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A University of Calgary study across 80,000 square kilometres in Alberta and B.C. found wolverines decline in areas with more winter recreation and roads, including Banff National Park.
A new University of Calgary study has found that wolverine populations decline in areas with more winter recreation and roads, including Banff National Park. The research, conducted across 80,000 square kilometres in Alberta and British Columbia, tracked wolverines in the Columbia and Rocky Mountain ranges.
The study, led by Mirjam Barrueto in collaboration with Parks Canada, revealed that only about 300 wolverines live in the vast study area, which was chosen because it provides particularly good habitat for the animals.
Impacts of Winter Recreation on Wolverines
Researchers discovered that wolverines are not just avoiding people; places with more recreation actually have fewer wolverines living there. Skiers, snowshoers, and snowmobilers heading into the backcountry are having a bigger impact than previously understood.
Barrueto noted that winter recreation has a much larger footprint because snow covers everything, allowing people to travel almost anywhere. In summer, access is limited to trails, but in winter, skiers, snowmobilers, and heli-skiers can essentially go everywhere.
Barrueto said she was surprised by how far people reach into the backcountry, which she had thought of as remote wilderness. Female wolverines are particularly vulnerable while raising their young, as they give birth in winter and den in specific areas. If disturbed, they may leave food caches or waste energy avoiding people instead of caring for their kits.
Previous research found that wolverines may start avoiding an area if as few as three or four groups pass through over a couple of weeks. This means even a small amount of human activity can reduce the number of wolverines living in an area. According to Barrueto, whether there are 100 people per day or a thousand, for this particular animal, they are already gone.
Roads and Female Wolverine Vulnerability
The study also found that female wolverine numbers dropped as the number of roads increased, while the same was not true for males. This suggests that females are more sensitive to human infrastructure and activity.
Barrueto suggests one solution is to identify sensitive areas and temporarily keep people out during the winter months when females are denning. Keeping people on established trails rather than building new ones or going off-trail would also help give wolverines the space they need.
Jason Fisher, a wildlife ecologist and professor at the University of Victoria who was not involved in the study, said the study area is mostly undisturbed land, which makes the findings significant. He noted that the Rocky Mountains and national parks are relied upon as an anchor for wolverine populations, and the fact that they are doing poorly inside this supposed protected area is alarming.
Broader Conservation Challenges
Fisher added that protecting habitat is only part of the picture. Wolverines also die from trapping, hunting, and collisions with vehicles, and these deaths need to be better managed because the population has little room for additional losses.
He emphasized that decisions need to be made now to get serious about wolverine conservation. He described wolverines as an astounding animal that has hung on since the ice age and expressed a desire to see them persist much longer.
The study underscores the need for careful management of winter recreation in wolverine habitats to ensure the species' survival in the Rocky Mountains and beyond.
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