Management Recommendations For Monitoring Wildlife Responses to Road Traffic in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, A Final Report

Yost AC and Wright RG. 1998. Management Recommendations For Monitoring Wildlife Responses to Road Traffic in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, A Final Report. U.S. Geological Survey; Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Idaho. Moscow, ID

The Road System Evaluation Report (National Park Service, 1994) suggested the need for biological assessment along the road corridor in Denali National Park. In addition, based on the results of a study by Singer and Beattie (1986) and recommendations by Hastings (1992), the park's general management plan called for wildlife monitoring and study to assure that the potentially adverse effect of traffic on wildlife be minimized. As a result, a research program that sought to address the effect of traffic on wildlife and how it may influence opportunities for visitors to view wildlife was developed and carried out by the University of Idaho between 1996-1998 and reported in detail in Yost (1998). This project was based on the hypothesis that wildlife may be avoiding the vicinity of the road during the visitor season. Its primary purpose was to develop a means to monitor how incremental changes resulting from road/traffic management actions could alter viewing opportunities. The study consolidated techniques and information from previous studies (Tracy 1977, Singer and Beattie 1986) that have looked at the response of animals to road traffic and extended it with new data collection and analysis techniques. This document outlines the primary findings of that study and succinctly describes methods used in that study including the data collection and analytical techniques developed in order to permit Denali National Park and Preserve to implement a long-term, wildlife monitoring protocol.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Yost, Andrew; Wright, R
Date of Issue
1998
Publisher
U.S. Geological Survey; Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Idaho
Units
DENA
Keywords
Monitoring, monitoring wildlife, Park Road, Traffic, Wildlife

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