Protocol for monitoring brown bears: Arctic Network (ARCN), version 1.0

Robison, Hillary; Schmidt, Joshua; Rattenbury, Kumi; Shults, Brad; Miller, Scott

The National Park Service (NPS) has developed a long-term ecological monitoring program known as “Vital Signs Monitoring” to provide the minimum infrastructure and enable more than 270 national park units, organized into 32 networks nationwide, to identify and implement long-term monitoring of their highest-priority indicators of natural resource condition. The Vital Signs Monitoring Program is a major component of the National Park Service’s strategy to improve park management through greater reliance on scientific information. This protocol details the justification and procedures for brown bear (Ursus arctos) monitoring, a Vital Sign selected by the Arctic Network (ARCN). The ARCN includes five park units in northern Alaska: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA), Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR), Noatak National Preserve (NOAT), Kobuk Valley National Park (KOVA), and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR). Preserving the condition of park resources, including wildlife and their habitats, unimpaired in perpetuity is the fundamental management objective of the NPS. This management objective to “maintain unimpaired” captures the essence of the NPS mission and forms the foundation of the NPS long-term ecological monitoring program. Additionally, the enabling legislation for many NPS units in Alaska, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), calls for protection of habitat for and populations of wildlife including brown bears in BELA, NOAT, KOVA, CAKR, and GAAR. Monitoring is defined as the use of repeated surveys to obtain information on wildlife population status and change in status (Sauer and Knutson 2008). Monitoring is a central component of natural resource stewardship in the NPS, and in conjunction with natural resource inventories and research, provides the information needed for effective, science-based managerial decision-making and resource protection (Fancy et al. 2009). The purpose of this monitoring protocol, the Protocol for Monitoring Brown Bears for the Arctic Network, is to collect and analyze data and to report information that will help park managers assess the status of and maintain or improve the condition of this resource. Brown bears were chosen as a Vital Sign because they are very sensitive to habitat fragmentation, habitat loss, and human development that directly affects their survival. Because brown bears use a broad range of habitats and require large areas of habitat, they are an “umbrella species” – a species that confers protection to other co-occurring species with smaller spatial habitat requirements (Roberge and Angelstam 2004). The objective of this monitoring protocol is to determine brown bear population trends and distribution in the ARCN parks by detecting trends in density, abundance, and occupancy over time in each survey area and across ARCN as a whole. The NPS needs these metrics to inform conservation of populations of brown bears within park units and to manage for human-causes of mortality of brown bears while providing reasonable opportunities for consumptive and non-consumptive activities. In addition, these data will provide baseline information to mitigate the effects of human development on brown bear populations within and adjacent to NPS park units. The method is a fixed-wing, aerial survey using a systematic sampling design, double sampling, and photo mark-resight of bear groups and observations of dens to estimate brown bear density, abundance, and occupancy (Schmidt et al. 2017). The survey is conducted in a rotating schedule in each of 4 survey areas. Each of the four survey areas will be sampled once every four to five years during late May and early June. The Protocol for Monitoring Brown Bears consists of a narrative (this document) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that outline the specific aspects of the monitoring protocol including the biological and statistical underpinnings of the methods.

Protocol for monitoring brown bears: Arctic Network (ARCN), version 1.0

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