Optimal Haliaeetus Leucocephalus (Bald Ealge) Nesting Habitat Near Squamish B.C.

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1 Optimal Haliaeetus Leucocephalus (Bald Ealge) Nesting Habitat Near Squamish B.C. GEOG413 Term Project Stephan Karolat April, 201 Eagle Eagle EAgle Eagle Abstract This project was designed to asses optimal nesting habitats for bald eagles in the Squamish B.C. area. By the use of forest cover (vegetation type, vegetation cover, and vegetation height) combined with an understanding of the nesting area for this species predictions can be formutated as to where nesting sites may be found. Introduction / Backround The main objective of this project was to determine potential nesting habitats; secondary objectives were to illustrate primary secondary and tertiary zones surrounding each produced nesting area, these area's must be managed accordingly. Eagle populations are known to be very high in squamish, although this is generally wintering habitat; durring this time 1-2 thousand eagles flock to the area. Warmer months are known to be important for nesting. Habitat types typical for nesting Bald Eagles are quite typical in general form but can vary alot in vegetation type. Main types of vegetation for nesting eagles were found to be: Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, Interior Cedar,Mountain Spruce, Trembling Aspen, Pnderosa Pine, and White pine. Nests were generally located above 40 feet and in stands that were percent covered with vegetation. Bald Eagle nests are not typically found further than 4 kilometers from a body of water and generally prefer ones larger that 10km2 as fish are their main source of nourishment. For the purposes of habitat conservation primary secondary and tertiary zones were established surrounding the nesting area's. Bald Eagle nests were found to be located at a distance of 1.2km from small to medium density urban settlements, and 1.8km from medium to high urban density settlements. Given this information further expansion can become hazardous to arleady established Eagle territory. As defined nationally by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources the primary zone should be 330 ft or 100 m from nesting area's; here all land use except actions necessary to protect or improve the nest site should be prohibited in this zone. Human entry and low-level aircraft operations should be prohibited. Motorized access into this zone, aside from boats passing through the area, should be prohibited. Restrictions on human entry at other times should be addressed in the breeding area management plan, considering the types, extents and durations of proposed or likely activities. The Secondary zone should be 660 ft or 200 m from nesting area's; here land-use activities that result in significant changes in the landscape, such as clearcutting, land clearing, (road construction, pipeline development, hydro rights-ofway) or (any) major construction, should be prohibited. Selective logging or thinning may be permitted in the area but not durring hatching and not effecting stands with known nests. Human entry and low-level aircraft opporations should be restricted durring cruital periods in the hatching process unless perfomed in connection with eagle research and managment. The Tertiary zone should be set at 1/4 mile or 400 m, however may be extended up to twice that depending on topography and vegetation. Activities in this zone are much more permissible however large modifications to landscape should be prohibited.

2 Typical Bald Eagle Habitat Study Area / Data Source / Data Manipulation The area of study examined for this project was the town of Squamish, a small coastal community located in western B.C. between Whistler and Vancouver. For this study the TRIM I data sheet 93g used with analysis being performed on sheets 93g065 and 93g075 specifically TRIM I data was provided by Roger and Ping on the UNBC GIS Data website located at The data was produced in zipped.saf file format DEM data for map sheet 93G was also retrieved from the UNBC GIS Data site. Again the files were zip files but in this case they were.asc files.and had to be projected in UTM zone 10 Coordinates First the TRIM data was.s unzipped and converted to ESRI ArcInfo Coverage using the FME Translator Next Dem data was unzipped and converted to raster using the conversion tool in ArcToolbox. This raster was then used to create hillshade with the Spatial Analys, using raster clip in arc tool box this data was set to the extent of this study A new shapefile was created to clip the remaining feature (vector data) into the study area Lake and ocean features were then converted from lines to polygons

3 Methods / Procedure Selected from the forest cover were the tree species discussed earlier:

4 Abuffer was set at 4 kilometeres around area's within 4km from water bodies, and the forest values clipped from there. However due to this study size this included all previously calculated areas. The Area 1.2 km surrounding urband and industrail development was also removed as indicated earlier for small to medium urban settlements. This produced the final Nesting Habitat

5 Buffered area 1.2km surrounding urban and industrial devolopment UNBC Geog413 Term Project, 2010

6 Selected areas within the buffer removed Results The produced figures illustrated a large area in which nesting may occur within the area. it also illustrated a large area where further development should not occur (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary zones) to benefit the species within the area.

7 The primary secondary and tertiary zones illustrate areas where development should either not occur or be preformed very delicatly in order preserve Eagle nesting Habitats in the area Conclusion / Discussion As of yet there does not appear to be much disturbance to Bald Eagle nesting habitat in Squamish; however it was shown that some was evident. For this location it would be nice if before further urban and industrial expansion was undertaken that conservation efforts be set in place as Eagle and other animal habitats can be quite delicate. If I were to perform a similar study again i would examine much more of the surroudning area as some industrial actiovity was removed by focusing so closely on the town itself. The Primary secondary and tertiary zones in this study however would provide a good outlook as to further expansion in the city of Squamish. References BALD EAGLE HABITAT MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES ONTARIO MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer:Species and Ecosystems Search TOP