Methods

Data

Data used include shapefiles pertaining to the Yukon border, major watercourses, boundaries for Ivvavik National park (INP) and the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), a digital elevation model (DEM), and a land cover classification. GPS tracking data for 30 bears was collected using Telonics Gen 3 collars between 2004 and 2010 by Environment Yukon, and accounts for the movement of bears between April and November. All analysis was carried out using ArcMap 10.3 and Microsoft Excel.

Pre-Processing

To standardize for time, GPS data was divided into three seasons: shoulder (April-May), foraging (June-April), and pre-denning (September-November). This data was further processed by standardizing the recording interval from 1.3 - 4 hours to approximately 4 hours. Males and females were separated due to behavioural differences in movement. 

Determining Bear Activity and Migration Corridors

In order to delineate corridors of grizzly bear movement through the landscape, it was first necessary to determine which areas were most frequented by all bears. This was done using the Kernel Density tool in ArcMap. To reduce error, only standardized data with a successful fix rate greater than or equal to 80% were used in steps of the analysis,. As a result, only the foraging season data was used. However, all points of all bears were used to create any observed corridors that linked these areas of high bear activity. Only paths linking two high activity areas were considered to be corridors.

Habitat Suitability

A Multiple Criteria Evaluation was used to predict areas of suitable habitat that should be protected from development. Slope, elevation and land cover were used as part of this analysis, with the suitability of different ranges of each being determinued from the following: