Black Bear Habitat Use in Relation to Food Availability in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas

Abstract

A black bear (Ursus americanus) food value index (FVI) was developed and calculated for forest cover type classifications on Ozark Mountain (White Rock) and Ouachita Mountain (Dry Creek) study areas in western Arkansas. FVIs are estimates of bear food production capabilities of the major forest cover types and were calculated using percent cover, mean fruit production scorings, and the dietary percentage of each major plant food species as variables. Goodness-of-fit analyses were used to determine use of forest cover types by 23 radio-collared female bears. Habitat selection by forest cover type was not detected on White Rock but was detected on Dry Creek. Use of habitats on Dry Creek appeared to be related to food production with the exception of regeneration areas, which were used less than expected but had a high FVI ranking. In general, pine cover types had low FVI rankings and were used less than expected by bears. Forest management implications are discussed. Int. Conf. Bear Res. and Manage. 9(1):309-318 Black bear populations in the eastern United States are much reduced, largely due to land conversion that resulted in habitat loss and fragmentation (Maehr 1984). Schoen (1990) stated that part of our task in managing bear habitats is to identify what habitats are important to bears and determine the optimal or sometimes minimal habitat mix necessary for maintaining populations at desired or viable population levels. Although food is only one component of an organism's habitat requirements, it is especially important for bears because of their large size and relatively inefficient digestive system (Pritchard and Robbins 1990). It is important to determine what foods are most critical to bears and the forest management practices that produce those foods. Although a number of habitat use studies have been conducted on black bears in North America (Beeman and Pelton 1977, Warburton 1984, Brody and Pelton 1989, Unsworth et al. 1989, Hellgren etal. 1991), few studies have attempted to link habitat use with food availability (Kansas and Raine 1990, Noyce and Coy 1990). It is not only important to determine the habitats that are selected for by bears, but it is perhaps more important to determine why those habitats are selected. The objective of this study was to quantify food production and relative value assoeiated with a variety of silvicultural practices and forest cover types and compare that to black bear habitat use for 2 study areas in the Interior Highlands of Arkansas. This study was funded under provisions of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (PittmanRobertson Act), administered by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Additional funding was provided by the Ozark National Forest (NF), the Arkansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Environmental Systems Company, Inc. C.J. Amlaner, P.S. Gipson, M.R. Pelton, and T.B. Wigley provided advice on study design and, along with D.L. Garshelis, R.L. Kirkpatrick, and T.E. Martin, helped edit earlier manuscripts. Special thanks go to graduate student S.G. Hayes and a number of technicians for their assistance in the field. Appreciation is also extended to W.F. Limp, J.A. Farley, and J.J. Lockhart from the Arkansas Archaeological Survey for their valuable assistance in using the Geographic Information System (GIS).