Multi-species monitoring using winter track surveys in the Saht - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Multi-species monitoring using winter track surveys in the Sahtú Settlement Region

Tulita November 26-27, 2014

Day 1 - Agenda

• Introductions
• Overview of CIMP funding proposal
• Discussion of objectives, questions and hypotheses
• Overview of existing snow track monitoring programs
• What types of information should we record?
• Who should conduct the surveys? Who should

coordinate?

• Identification of survey routes for a pilot program

2

CIMP funding proposal

• CIMP = Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program
• Used to be managed by the federal government, now part of GNWT

Environment and Natural Resources (ENR)

• Coordinates, conducts and funds the collection, analysis and

reporting of information related to environmental conditions in the NWT

• NWT CIMP supports research and monitoring activities that address

the cumulative impacts of human activities on the environment.

• 2014-15 Priority Valued Components of CIMP are:
• Water quality and quantity;
• Fish and fish habitat; and
• Caribou

3

CIMP funding proposal

Why did we apply?

• Concerns about cumulative effects
• Monitoring programs lacking for many wildlife species
• Need broad scale monitoring
• Collaborative – Communities / Industry / Government
• Standardization so data can be pooled

4

(Image: ConocoPhillips)

(Image: Husky Ltd.)

Why survey winter tracks?

• Many different species can be recorded in a single

survey

• Can be surveyed on foot or by snow mobile
• Non-invasive (no capture or handling of wildlife)
• Can collect pellet / scat / hair samples when they are

encountered – contribute to genetic studies

• Relatively large areas can be surveyed at low cost
• Harvesters have expertise in identification of tracks

and other signs left by wildlife

• Existing programs from other provinces that can be

used to develop standard methodology

5

Multi-species monitoring using winter track surveys in the Sahtú Settlement Region

• Objectives:
• Establish a long-term collaborative standardized

monitoring program that involves communities, industry and government

• Contribute to monitoring boreal caribou population

trend

• Collect data on distribution and relative abundance of

multiple species

• Assess cumulative effects of natural and human

disturbance on boreal caribou and other wildlife species

6

CIMP Caribou Blueprint

• CIMP monitoring and research gap priorities for boreal caribou:
• Establish a comprehensive regionally-based cumulative effects

monitoring for boreal caribou population trends and those human and natural factors that affect them

• Calculate and track landscape metrics in the boreal caribou range
• Determine when disturbed habitat (human or natural) becomes

functional again for boreal caribou

• Determine the impact of the following human and natural factors on

boreal caribou demographics and/or habitat:

• Fire
• Predation
• Alternative Prey
• Range condition – habitat quality and/or quantity
• Developmental footprint – physical and functional habitat loss

7

CIMP funding proposal – winter track surveys

• Applied for multi-year (3 yr) funding in January 2014
• Secured $59,235 in CIMP funding for the 1st year
• Additional $20,000 in ENR funding
• Funding for years 2-3 not guaranteed
• Partners: GNWT-ENR, SRRB, RRCs, ConocoPhillips, Husky,

Explor, MGM

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Program design

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• Conduct surveys by snow

mobile along seismic lines and trails

• Take geo-referenced pictures
• f wildlife tracks and sign

encountered

ABMI/Fiera

Banff Snow Track Monitoring Program

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• Landscape divided up into cells
• Track surveys conducted by ski

along existing trails

• Presence or absence of wildlife
• n trail segments
• Predict number of cells where

present

Whittington et al. 2014 Whittington and Heuer 2012

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What can we measure using track surveys?

• Relative abundance – number of tracks per km surveyed

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10 3 2 6 8 5 1 10 4 3 7

What can we measure using track surveys?

• Distribution
• Presence or absence of a species in a given area
• Can be used to estimate occupancy or probability of use of an

area

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Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative

Relationship between occurrence or relative abundance of wildlife species and landscape characteristics

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Program structure

19

Community Monitors Community monitoring coordinator Program coordination

GNWT-ENR + SRRB Tulita

1 2

Norman Wells

1 2

Deline

1 2

Fort Good Hope

1 2

Colville Lake

1 2

Why is standardization of methods important?

• Many factors can contribute to variation in monitoring results
• We want to control as many sources of variation due to

sampling methods as possible

• If everyone uses the same methods and follows the same

protocols:

• Data from different observers, locations or years can be pooled

together

• We combine data to scale up from local areas to a regional level
• There are many methods that have been tested and refined

that we can use in the Sahtu

• Pilot studies are required to determine sources of variation

and sampling effort required to detect changes of interest

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Why is replication important?

• Long-term - Repeating surveys of the same areas/routes year after

year allows us to assess whether there are changes in presence and abundance over time

• Temporal replication within years - Repeating surveys of the same

route more than once per winter allows us to assess whether a species was present in the area but we just missed it:

• 2 surveys = 3 possibilities
• Present and detected – 1 1
• Present but not detected the first/second time – 1 0 or 0 1
• Not present – 0 0
• Spatial replication –
• surveying a wider area (more grid cells) provides more data and

more confidence in detected trends

• sub-dividing survey routes into smaller segments, and looking at

detection on each segment improves precision for estimates of detection probability and occupancy

21

Program development

Year 1

• Determine objectives and survey protocols (this workshop)
• Conduct pilot tests
• Refine survey protocols and develop study design and methods

manual Year 2-3 and beyond

• Expand program to all 5 Sahtu communities
• Encourage industry participation
• Secure longer-term funding
• Repeat annual surveys
• Produce annual and multi-year reports
• Use results to inform decisions about wildlife and habitat

management, land use planning, environmental assessment, cumulative effects management and assessment

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Deliverables for Year 1

• Community workshop to define monitoring objectives, survey

design, survey methods, and survey route identification

• Pilot tests of field protocols
• Technical report detailing survey design, power analysis,

methodology, logistics, costs, annual budget, and deliverables

• Plain-language summary of study design, field protocol

manual and track identification guide for monitors

23

Program budget

• Year 1 – Use of CIMP Funds:

24 Activity Budget Community workshop for program design $17,000 Pilot tests (field trials) $22,000 Technical report - survey design, power analysis, methodology, logistics, costs, annual budget, and deliverables $10,000 Plain-language summary of draft study design, field protocol manual and track identification guide $10,000 Total $59,000

• Additional $20K in funding from ENR

Program budget

• Year 2/3 – Use of CIMP funds:
• Up to $180,000 in additional funding might be required for a full

program:

• 5 communities: 2 monitors + 1 monitoring coordinator per

community; 10 survey days conducted by each monitor

• 2 oil and gas companies: 2 monitors per company, 10 survey days per

monitor

• ENR to do surveys in areas of the landscape where there are gaps

25 Activity Budget Pre-field season community meeting and training sessions – 5 communities $20,000 Field season – surveys + coordination $30,000 Fall results workshop – held in one community, rotating basis $10,000 Total $60,000

Objectives

What do we want to achieve through this program?

• Monitor changes in abundance and distribution of

multiple wildlife species

• Evaluate relationship between wildlife abundance and

distribution and landscape disturbance (fire + human)

• Assess relation between predator and prey distribution
• Others??

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Questions

What questions do we want to answer with the data?

• Is the abundance of certain wildlife species changing
• ver time?
• Is the distribution of wildlife species changing over time?
• Are these changes related to changes in the landscape or

habitat?

• Are there wildlife species that are commonly found

together or more commonly found in one habitat type versus another?

• Others??

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Hypotheses

What kind of changes or patterns do we think are already

• ccurring? What do we think explains these patterns?

Examples

• Caribou will avoid areas with lots of seismic lines
• The abundance of wolves is increasing
• Wildlife are moving away from areas with development

activity

• Others??

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Examples of other snow track monitoring programs

• Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
• Explor
• Husky
• Conoco
• Enbridge

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Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI)

• Province divided into 1656

evenly spaced monitoring sites

• Visit 330 sites each year
• Entire province surveyed once

every five years

• Monitors
• 2000 species
• 200 habitat elements
• 40 human footprint variables

Cumulative effects monitoring program targeted at “detecting the ecological effects of a diverse set of environmental stresses on broad suites of indicators”

http://www.abmi.ca/abmi/home/home.jsp 30

ABMI – Winter track surveys

• Program running for 10 years
• 10 km transects surveyed by

snowmobile or foot

• 3 to 6 days since last snow fall > 1 cm
• r wind >30 km/hr
• Transect divided into segments 250 m

long

• Photos of tracks for specific species or

when ID is uncertain

• Print
• Series of prints
• Track

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ABMI – Winter track surveys

• Travel the transect first to make sure it

is passable, then work backwards

• At start – Air temp, snow depth, cloud

cover, snow conditions (powder, wet, crust)

• Travel at ~10 km/hr
• Species recorded if tracks come within

1 m of the transect

• Animals seen or

heard

• Record habitat type

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Explor

• Surveyed ~1600 km of seismic lines in winter 2012 by snow

mobile

• Used GPS equipped with cameras to take photos of all tracks

encountered

• Record a track log of the survey route
• >2,500 photographs representing 531 individual track

encounters

34

Husky and ConocoPhillips

• Husky
• 40 – 1 km long winter track transects
• Surveys conducted over two winters
• 40 trail cameras
• ConocoPhillips
• 41 – 1 km long winter track transects
• 41 surveyed in winter 2013
• 10 re-surveyed in winter 2014
• Minimum 24 hours after last snow fall
• Snow depth and hardness measured every 250 m

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What types of information should we record?

• Snowshoe hare
• Red squirrel
• Mouse/vole
• Muskrat
• Beaver
• Porcupine
• Weasel / Ermine
• Marten
• River Otter
• Mink
• Wolverine
• Lynx
• Red Fox
• Coyote
• Wolf
• Caribou
• Moose
• Muskox
• Dall’s Sheep
• Ptarmigan
• Grouse

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What species are we likely to see?

What types of information should we record?

• Should we record tracks of all species?
• There will be a trade-off between recording all species

and being able to cover a large area each day

• What should we do about snowshoe hare?

Track encounter rates recorded by Husky in EL 462/463:

37 Species Mean # tracks/km/day Max # tracks/km Snowshoe hare 10.32 56.73 Lynx 0.32 3.53 Marten 0.52 2.03 Wolverine 0.02 1 Moose 0.23 1.53 Caribou 0.04

What types of information should we record?

• Information to record about tracks:
• Species
• Number of individuals:
• Single track from 1 individual
• >1 individual
• Trail – multiple individuals travelling the same path,

exact number of animals hard to determine

• Cratering
• Bedding
• Crosses survey route, runs along route (take start and

end point?)

• Behaviour – walking, running, hunting, others?

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What types of information should we record?

• What if we are uncertain about the type of

animal that left the track?

• Rate your level of certainty (low/med/high)
• Photos of each track provides a back-up
• Take track measurements - ABMI has some

excellent resources about this! (http://fieraconsulting.ca/?p=307)

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What types of information should we record?

• Other types of animal signs that we could

record:

• Direct sightings (the animal is actually seen)
• Scats / pellets / hair / feathers
• Browsing / feeding
• Antler rub
• Den
• Nest
• Beaver lodge / muskrat push-up
• Kill site

40

What types of information should we record?

• What information should we record about the

weather and snow?

• Temperature
• Wind speed (don’t want to survey when it’s

too windy, covers the tracks)

• Snow depth
• Snow texture (powder, wet or hard crust)
• Can we automatically get data about the

weather from nearby weather stations?

41

What types of information should we record?

• Do we want to know something about the habitat where

we see different tracks?

• Vegetation type – Conifer, deciduous, mixedwood,
• pen/barren, wetland
• Topographic feature – stream, lake, river valley, other?
• Natural disturbances – forest fire
• Human settlements – cabins
• Human development – roads, well site, other?

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What types of information should we record?

• Do we need to take a picture of every track?
• Pros – we can double check species identification later,

provides a visual library for training new monitors, quality control

• Cons – might be more time consuming, especially for

easily identifiable species

• Incidental collection of pellets / scat / hair to contribute

to DNA studies – would need to carry kits

• Audio or video recordings – an easier way to take

additional notes about observations?

• Are there other types of information we might want to

record?

43

What a survey might look like

44 End Start

• Record date, time,

route #, waypoint

• Weather + Snow
• Start GPS track log
• Record species
• Track Type
• Confidence in ID
• Track

measurements

• Habitat
• Photo
• Audio/Video (if

necessary)

• Time,

waypoint

• Weather
• End GPS track

log

Who should participate?

• Monitors
• On-call – must be available to go out and do surveys when conditions

are right

• Record the data and make sure it is transferred to monitoring

coordinator at the end of each survey

• Access to a snow mobile
• Monitoring coordinator
• Ensures monitors are notified when snow conditions are good
• Knows where monitors are going and when they should be back

(safety)

• Responsible for ensuring data is transferred at the end of the day
• Liaison between monitors and program coordinators (SRRB/ENR)
• Provides assistance to monitors and other interested in displaying

the data on maps (e.g. Google Earth)

• Oversees monitoring equipment

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Selection of survey routes

• Things to consider when selecting survey routes:
• At least 10 km long in each 100 km2 cell
• A loop that starts and ends at town would be most efficient
• Not too much human traffic (don’t want people running over

tracks)

• Not too much vegetation re-growth
• Avoid steep/hazardous areas if possible
• Maximize diversity of habitat types surveyed
• Sample a range of areas with more or less disturbance
• Sample a range of fire ages

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Day 2 - Agenda

• Thoughts / comments about Day 1?
• Data collection tools
• Presentation from Trailmark Systems
• Presentation from Bindu Panikar
• Discussion of pros/cons of different tools
• Logistical and safety conisderations
• Program budget and compensation for community

monitors

• Data management, storage, sharing and reporting
• Next steps, decisions, timing/logistics for pilot tests
• Closing thoughts

47

Data collection tools

• Notebooks, pencil, GPS, digital camera - ~$500-800
• Take a picture
• Take a GPS point
• Write down the picture file number and GPS point label in the

notebook

• Write down additional notes on species, habitat, etc.
• GPS records survey route track, start time, end time, date; can

include base maps for navigation

48

Data collection tools

• GPS w/ integrated digital camera - ~$600/unit
• Takes geo-referenced photos
• Label each photo with species/number code
• Can record survey route track and waypoints, can include base maps
• Would probably need notebook and pencil to record other info

49

Data collection tools

• Digital camera with integrated GPS - ~$250-500
• Takes geo-referenced photos, and record track log (?)
• Would need notebook and pencil to record photo number and

associated it with species and other info

• Might still want a GPS for navigation
• Would allow for better quality photos

50

Data collection tools

• Smartphones ~ $500-800
• Most models equipped with GPS now
• Can take geo-referenced photos
• May be able to use for navigation (might still want a GPS)
• Can develop a custom App for data entry
• Issues with operation when it’s very cold??
• May provide all functions needed in one unit

51

Data collection tools

• Rugged Handheld Computers - ~$2500/unit
• GPS, camera, touchscreen, runs Windows
• Can develop a custom App for data collection
• Built for field work (more durable)
• May provide all functions needed in one unit

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Trailmark Systems Inc.

1

Arctic Biomap Project

Bindu Panikkar

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Pros / cons of different tools

Tool Cost Portability Ease of Use Reliability Durability Notebook, camera + GPS GPS w/ integrated camera Camera w/ integrated GPS Smartphone Rugged Handheld Computer 55

Logistical and safety considerations

• How much distance can be covered in a day?
• Access to reliable snow mobiles?
• Is it easy to buy gas when needed?
• Need back up survey routes
• Work in pairs with 2 snow mobiles?
• SPOT units and Satellite phones?
• First aid kits and survival supplies?
• Tool kits?
• First aid and safety training?

56

Revised Budget – Year 1

57 Activity CIMP ENR Total Community workshop for program design $6,000 $4,000 $10,000 Pilot tests (field trials) $15,000 $10,000 $25,000 Equipment + data management $15,000 $15,000 Technical report - survey design, power analysis, methodology, logistics, costs, annual budget, and deliverables $10,000 $10,000 Plain-language summary of draft study design, field protocol manual and track identification guide $10,000 $10,000 Sahtu Results Workshop $5,000 $5,000 Other (e.g. Admin fees) $3,000 $1,000 $4,000 Total $59,000 $20,000 $79,000

Compensation for community monitors

• Pilot Study:
• $200/day per monitor + $150/day for gas + snow

mobile maintenance

• Aim for a total of 10 survey days this winter
• Work with 2 teams of 2 people – 10 survey days per

team

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Data management, storage, sharing and reporting

• Where should data be stored?
• Who should have access to the data?
• Are there types of information that should remain

confidential?

• How, when, where, how often should it be reported?

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Decisions, next steps, field trials

Decisions

• What data collection tools do we want to try?
• Do we want to try out Trailmark Systems? (~$10,000)
• Lease 2 rugged field notebooks (6 month minimum)
• Set up data base and data collection App
• Training
• Who would like to participate in the field trials?
• What dates should they occur (Feb/March)?

Next Steps

• Write up a draft data collection protocol
• Work on data collection App
• Plan field trials

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Thank You!

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