Glacier National Park Research Articles

Use of Stay-at-Home Orders and Mask Mandates to Control COVID-19 Transmission - Blackfeet Tribal Reservation, Montana, June-December 2020.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected persons who identify as non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) (1). The Blackfeet Tribal Reservation, the northern Montana home of the sovereign Blackfeet Nation, with an estimated population of 10,629 (2), detected the first COVID-19 case in the community on June 16, 2020. Following CDC guidance,* and with free testing widely available, the Indian Health Service and Blackfeet Tribal Health Department began investigating all confirmed cases and their contacts on June 25. The relationship between three community mitigation resolutions passed and enforced by the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and changes in the daily COVID-19 incidence and in the distributions of new cases was assessed. After the September 28 issuance of a strictly enforced stay-at-home order and adoption of a mask use resolution, COVID-19 incidence in the Blackfeet Tribal Reservation decreased by a factor of 33 from its peak of 6.40 cases per 1,000 residents per day on October 5 to 0.19 on November 7. Other mitigation measures the Blackfeet Tribal Reservation used included closing the east gate of Glacier National Park for the summer tourism season, instituting remote learning for public school students throughout the fall semester, and providing a Thanksgiving meal to every household to reduce trips to grocery stores. CDC has recommended use of routine public health interventions for infectious diseases, including case investigation with prompt isolation, contact tracing, and immediate quarantine after exposure to prevent and control transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (3). Stay-at-home orders, physical distancing, and mask wearing indoors, outdoors when physical distancing is not possible, or when in close contact with infected or exposed persons are also recommended as nonpharmaceutical community mitigation measures (3,4). Implementation and strict enforcement of stay-at-home orders and a mask use mandate likely helped reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the Blackfeet Tribal Reservation.

Tourism, Conquest, and the Identity of Glacier National Park

Tourism, Conquest, and the Identity of Glacier National Park

Examining the operational use of avalanche problems with decision trees and model-generated weather and snowpack variables

Abstract. Avalanche problems are used in avalanche forecasting to describe snowpack, weather, and terrain factors that require distinct risk management techniques. Although they have become an effective tool for assessing and communicating avalanche hazard, their definitions leave room for interpretation and inconsistencies. This study uses conditional inference trees to explore the application of avalanche problems over eight winters in Glacier National Park, Canada. The influences of weather and snowpack variables on each avalanche problem type were explored by analysing a continuous set of weather and snowpack variables produced with a numerical weather prediction model and a physical snow cover model. The decision trees suggest forecasters' assessments are based on not only a physical analysis of weather and snowpack conditions but also contextual information about the time of season, the location, and interactions with other avalanche problems. The decision trees showed clearer patterns when new avalanche problems were added to hazard assessments compared to when problems were removed. Despite discrepancies between modelled variables and field observations, the model-generated variables produced intuitive explanations for conditions influencing most avalanche problem types. For example, snowfall in the past 72 h was the most significant variable for storm slab avalanche problems, skier penetration depth was the most significant variable for dry loose avalanche problems, and slab density was the most significant variable for persistent-slab avalanche problems. The explanations for wind slab and cornice avalanche problems were less intuitive, suggesting potential inconsistencies in their application as well as shortcomings of the model-generated data. The decision trees illustrate how forecasters apply avalanche problems and can inform discussions about improved operational practices and the development of data-driven decision aids.

On the Memory of Ice: An Interview with Jonathan Marquis by Kathy Kasic

When I discovered Jonathan Marquis’s cameraless photographic work, I found myself entranced. As a filmmaker primarily focused on environmental documentary narratives, I often record digital images of a world I fear we are losing. Perhaps especially because camera electronics transform light and dark shapes into digital pixels, I try to make my images as tactile and sensory as possible so that we may become within a place. Jonathan Marquis’s cyanotype series, Downwaste, created in Glacier National Park, raises questions about photography, time, place, and agency as the climate changes and the glaciers melt. I had the good fortune to spend some time interviewing him about his work. What follows is our discussion.

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Environmental DNAVolume 2, Issue 3 p. i-i COVER IMAGEFree Access Cover Image First published: 19 July 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.119AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Graphical Abstract Caption: Hand-held tow net for environmental DNA sample collection. Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park, USA. Credit: Ken Rand (2016) of kenrand.co Volume2, Issue3Special Issue: Pathway to Increase Standards and Competency of eDNA Surveys (PISCeS)July 2020Pages i-i RelatedInformation

Conservation implications of using an imitation carnivore to assess rarely used refuges as critical habitat features in an alpine ungulate.

Understanding relationships between animals and their habitat is a central goal in ecology with important implications for conservation. Misidentified habitat requirements can have serious repercussions because land protection or reintroductions might occur in less than optimal habitat. Studies of resource selection have greatly facilitated an understanding of ecological relationships but can be improved when vital yet infrequently utilized habitat features are more fully described. A critical element for many prey species is escape terrain or some other form of refuge to avoid predation. Mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus) are well known for their use of cliffs to avoid predation, but a survey of the literature revealed at least twelve different approximations of goat escape terrain, ranging from > 25° to > 50° slopes. Here, we seek to (1) enhance estimates of mountain goat escape terrain and antipredator behavior, and (2) highlight the limitations of the assumption that the time an animal spends in an area is proportional to importance. To improve estimates of goat escape terrain, we conducted field work across two years (2014–15) in Glacier National Park, Montana USA and manipulated apparent predation risk by exposing mountain goats to a threatening simulated grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) treatment and a non-threatening ungulate (control) treatment. Mountain goats moved in response to the simulated bear but not in response to the simulated ungulate, with shorter latencies to move for subjects in larger groups and at shorter distances to the simulated threat. Through a used-unused resource selection function we tested 22 landscape variables to describe the use of escape terrain. Proximity to slopes greater than 60° best explained the locations to which mountain goats fled after exposure to the simulated bear, and the average slope of these escape locations was 56.5° (±14.1 S.D.). Our results suggest that mountain goat escape terrain be considered at slopes of 60° as a minimum because our simulated threat did not include pursuit of goats and, thus, slopes of 60° are likely underestimates of actual escape terrain. Additionally, because direct interactions between carnivores and goats seldom occur, serious escape terrain is infrequently used. Past estimates of escape may have miscalculated the slopes which goats select for in response to predation risk. Based on experimental approaches in the wild, we suggest that anti-predator behavior should be included in studies of resource selection when the goal is to consider habitat as a predictor for conservation success. Finally, we discuss evidence suggesting a past mountain goat introduction failed due to lack of adequate escape terrain and subsequent recolonization of a predator.

Two Ocean Pass: An Alternative Hypothesis for the Invasion of Yellowstone Lake by Lake Trout, and Implications for Future Invasions

Preventing the interbasin transfer of aquatic invasive species is a high priority for natural resource managers. Such transfers can be made by humans or can occur by dispersal through connected waterways. A natural surface water connection between the Atlantic and Pacific drainages in North America exists at Two Ocean Pass south of Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri used this route to cross the Continental Divide and colonize the Yellowstone River from ancestral sources in the Snake River following glacial recession 14,000 bp. Nonnative lake trout Salvelinus namaycush were stocked into lakes in the Snake River headwaters in 1890 and quickly dispersed downstream. Lake trout were discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994 and were assumed to have been illegally introduced. Recently, lake trout have demonstrated their ability to move widely through river systems and invade headwater lakes in Glacier National Park. Our objective was to determine if lake trout and other nonnative fish were present in the connected waters near Two Ocean Pass and could thereby colonize the Yellowstone River basin in the past or future. We used environmental DNA (eDNA), electrofishing, and angling to survey for lake trout and other fishes. Yellowstone cutthroat trout were detected at nearly all sites on both sides of the Continental Divide. Lake trout and invasive brook trout S. fontinalis were detected in Pacific Creek near its confluence with the Snake River. We conclude that invasive movements by lake trout from the Snake River over Two Ocean Pass may have resulted in their colonization of Yellowstone Lake. Moreover, Yellowstone Lake may be vulnerable to additional invasions because several other nonnative fish inhabit the upper Snake River. In the future, eDNA collected across smaller spatial intervals in Pacific Creek during flow conditions more conducive to lake trout movement may provide further insight into the extent of non-native fish invasions in this stream.

Human-caused climate change in United States national parks and solutions for the future

Author(s): Gonzalez, Patrick | Abstract: Human-caused climate change has exposed the US national park area to more severe increases in heat and aridity than the country as a whole and caused widespread impacts on ecosystems and resources. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from cars, power plants, and other human sources would reduce future risks. Since 1895, annual average temperature of the area of the 419 national parks has increased at a rate of 1.0 ± 0.2oC (1.8 ± 0.4oF) per century, double the rate of the US as a whole, while precipitation has declined significantly on 12% of national park area, compared with 3% of the US. This occurs because extensive areas of national parks are located in extreme environments. Scientific research in national parks has detected numerous changes that analyses have attributed primarily to human-caused climate change. These include a doubling of the area burned by wildfire across the western US, including Yosemite National Park, melting of glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park, a doubling of tree mortality across the western US, including Sequoia National Park, a loss of bird species from Death Valley National Park, a shift of trees onto tundra in Noatak National Preserve, sea level rise of 42 cm (17 in.) near the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and other impacts. Without emissions reductions, climate change could increase temperatures across the national parks, up to 9oC (16oF) by 2100 in parks in Alaska. This could melt all glaciers from Glacier National Park, raise sea level enough to inundate half of Everglades National Park, dissolve coral reefs in Virgin Islands National Park through ocean acidification, and damage many other natural and cultural resources. Adaptation measures, including conservation of refugia in Joshua Tree National Park and raising heat-resistant local corals in Biscayne National Park, can strengthen ecosystem integrity. Yet, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human activities is the only solution that prevents the pollution that causes climate change. Energy conservation and efficiency improvements, renewable energy, public transit, and other actions could lower projected heating by two-thirds, reducing risks to our national parks.

Specialized meltwater biodiversity persists despite widespread deglaciation.

Glaciers are important drivers of environmental heterogeneity and biological diversity across mountain landscapes. Worldwide, glaciers are receding rapidly due to climate change, with important consequences for biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. However, the effects of glacier loss on biodiversity have never been quantified across a mountainous region, primarily due to a lack of adequate data at large spatial and temporal scales. Here, we combine high-resolution biological and glacier change (ca. 1850-2015) datasets for Glacier National Park, USA, to test the prediction that glacier retreat reduces biodiversity in mountain ecosystems through the loss of uniquely adapted meltwater stream species. We identified a specialized cold-water invertebrate community restricted to the highest elevation streams primarily below glaciers, but also snowfields and groundwater springs. We show that this community and endemic species have unexpectedly persisted in cold, high-elevation sites, even in catchments that have not been glaciated in ∼170 y. Future projections suggest substantial declines in suitable habitat, but not necessarily loss of this community with the complete disappearance of glaciers. Our findings demonstrate that high-elevation streams fed by snow and other cold-water sources continue to serve as critical climate refugia for mountain biodiversity even after glaciers disappear.

Parsing complex terrain controls on mountain glacier response to climate forcing

Glaciers are a key indicator of changing climate in the high mountain landscape. Glacier variations across a mountain range are ultimately driven by regional climate forcing. However, changes also reflect local, topographically driven processes such as snow avalanching, snow wind-drifting, and radiation shading as well as the initial glacier conditions such as hypsometry and ice thickness. Here we assess the role of these various terrain influences on change to Little Ice Age (LIA) glaciers in Glacier National Park, U.S.A. With available data for LIA and modern glacier areas, we estimate glacier volumes using simple ice flow assumptions and topographically driven processes using terrain proxies. At the LIA glacial maxima there were 82 glaciers larger than 0.1 km 2 ranging from 0.11 to 4.97 km 2 . Over the course of the 20th century, every single LIA glacier decreased in area and 60% (49 glaciers) diminished to below the 0.1 km 2 threshold. Glaciers with large initial area (>1.5 km 2 ) at the end of LIA persisted. Within the intermediate size class (0.5 km 2 < area < 1.5 km 2 ), LIA glacier persistence is poorly explained by initial glacier volume, ice thickness, or elevation. Instead, wind exposure is an important explanatory factor. Our analysis demonstrates the complex response of cirque glaciers to post-LIA climate change in this region: individual glaciers have not necessarily undergone equivalent and synchronous change. Nevertheless, that all glaciers in this mountain range experienced retreat demonstrates that local processes mediated adjustments of some glaciers but completely decoupled none from the regional climate forcing. • 82 glaciers were > 0.1 km 2 at Little Ice Age glacial maxima in Glacier National Park. • All glaciers decreased area and 60% diminished to <0.1 km 2 since the Little Ice Age. • Glacier persistence is associated with moderate exposure to southwest winds.

Influence of Streamflow on Reproductive Success in a Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) Population in the Rocky Mountains

Aspects of streamflow and reproductive success of Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) were measured to explore how variation in streamflow impacts reproduction, and to consider how climate change might influence these parameters in the future. A 24-year data set (1990-2013) of Harlequin Duck breeding season surveys conducted on Upper McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park (GNP), Montana, USA was used to assess how annual variation in the proportion of broods to pairs (reproductive success) relates to streamflow. Between 1990 and 2013, GNP staff and volunteers conducted 102 spring surveys and 112 brood surveys counting 896 total ducks, 212 pairs, 56 broods, and 278 ducklings. Four streamflow metrics (pre-incubation streamflow - corresponding with nutrient acquisition and nest site selection, hydrographic peaks – corresponding with nest site selection and availability, value of the greatest single hydrographic peak post average peak flow - corresponding with risk of a nest washing out, and average streamflow during incubation - corresponding with foraging condition for an incubating female) were all negatively related to reproductive success. The first three of these metrics are predicted to become more extreme with climate change, with potential negative effects on breeding Harlequin Ducks.

Vegetation change as related to terrain factors at two glacier forefronts, Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A.

Glacier recession is a globally occurring trend. Although a rich body of work has documented glacial response to climate warming, few studies have assessed vegetation cover change in recently deglaciated areas, especially using geospatial technologies. Here, vegetation change at two glacier forefronts in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A. was quantified through remote sensing analysis, fieldwork validation, and statistical modeling. Specifically, we assessed the spatial and temporal patterns of landcover change at the two glacier forefronts in Glacier National Park and determined the role of selected biophysical terrain factors (elevation, slope, aspect, solar radiation, flow accumulation, topographic wetness index, and surficial geology) on vegetation change (from non-vegetated to vegetated cover) at the deglaciated areas. Landsat imagery of the study locations in 1991, 2003, and 2015 were classified and validated using visual interpretation. Model results revealed geographic differences in biophysical correlates of vegetation change between the study areas, suggesting that terrain variation is a key factor affecting spatial-temporal patterns of vegetation change. At Jackson Glacier forefront, increases in vegetation over some portion or all of the study period were negatively associated with elevation, slope angle, and consolidated bedrock. At Grinnell Glacier forefront, increases in vegetation associated negatively with elevation and positively with solar radiation. Integrated geospatial and field approaches to the study of vegetation change in recently deglaciated terrain are recommended to understand and monitor processes and patterns of ongoing habitat change in rapidly changing mountain environments.

Alpine plant community diversity in species–area relations at fine scale

ABSTRACT Observations of diversity in alpine vegetation appear to be scale dependent. The relations of plant species richness with surface processes and geomorphology have been studied, but patterns of beta diversity are less known. In Glacier National Park, Montana, diversity has been examined within 1 m2 plots and for 16 m2 plots across two ranges, with within-plot and across-range explanatory factors, respectively. The slopes of species–area equations for nested 4, 8, 12, and 16 m2 plots were used as an indicator of beta diversity in Glacier National Park, where smaller and larger scales have been examined. The slopes were negatively related to a field assessment of surface stability and positively to the presence of talus—two sides of the same coin. A positive relationship with bedrock outcrops may be due to a misrepresentation of area for plants. The relationship of species–area slopes to plot-level gamma diversity was negative, weak, and marginally significant, and this variable did not enter the general linear model (GLM). Beyond simple differences in diversity with differences in environment, examination of beta diversity at a scale between that of earlier studies revealed surface processes and geomorphology as drivers that were also at a scale between those previously reported.

Seeking snow and breathing hard - Behavioral tactics in high elevation mammals to combat warming temperatures.

The world glaciers and areas of persistent summer snowpack are being lost due to warming temperatures. For cold-adapted species, habitat features may offer opportunities for cooling during summer heat yet the loss of snow and ice may compromise derived thermoregulatory benefits. Herein we offer insights about habitat selection for snow and the extent to which other behavioral adjustments reduce thermal debt among high elevation mammals. Specifically, we concentrate on respiration in mountain goats (Oreamnos americanus), a species whose native distribution is currently tied to northern mountain ranges of North America, where large patches of persistent summer snow are declining, and which became extinct during geologically warmer epochs. To examine sensitivity to possible thermal stressors and use of summer snow cover, we tracked marked and unmarked mountain goats in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, to test hypotheses about selection for cold microclimates including shade and snow during periods of relatively high temperature. To understand functional responses of habitat choices, we measured microhabitat temperatures and a component of goat physiology–breaths per minute–as an index for metabolic expenditure. Individuals 1) selected areas closer to snow on warmer summer days, and 2) on snow had a 15% mean reduction in respiration when accounting for other factors, which suggests remnant snow plays an important role in mediating effects of air temperature. The use of shade was not as an important variable in models explaining respiration. Despite the loss of 85% of glaciers in in Glacier National Park, summer’s remnant snow patches are an important reservoir by which animals reduce heat stress and potential hyperthermia. Our findings, when contextualized with behavioral strategies deployed by other high elevation mammalian taxa help frame how ambient temperatures may be modulated, and they offer a direct way by which to assess susceptibility to increasing heat in cold-adapted species.

Nuclear and mitochondrial genomic resources for the meltwater stonefly (Plecoptera: Nemouridae), Lednia tumana (Ricker, 1952)

With more than 3,700 described species, stoneflies (Order Plecoptera) are an important component of global aquatic biodiversity. The meltwater stonefly Lednia tumana (Ricker, 1952) is endemic to alpine streams of Glacier National Park and has been petitioned for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to climate change-induced loss of alpine glaciers and snowfields. Here, we present de novo assemblies of the nuclear (∼520 million base pairs [bp]) and mitochondrial (15,014-bp) genomes for L. tumana. The L. tumana (Family Nemouridae) nuclear genome is the most complete stonefly genome reported to date, with ∼71% of genes present in complete form and more than 4,600 contigs longer than 10-kilobases (kb). The L. tumana mitochondrial genome is the second for the family Nemouridae and the first from North America. Together, both genomes represent important foundational resources, setting the stage for future efforts to understand the evolution of L. tumana, stoneflies, and aquatic insects worldwide.

Impact of Climate Change and Global Warming in India (With a Special Reference to Its Stand on Climate Change in International Forums)

In the last couple of decades, there have been extensive debates over the existence of global warming, today, the debate is largely over and a consensus has emerged in the global scientific community that Global Climate Change is occurring and that it will have a dramatic and adverse impact on the planet earth’s ecosystem. According to a report for the World Bank, by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) a German government-funded institute: the increase in earth’s temperature could result in a sea-level rise of 0.5 to 1 meter with higher levels also possible, by the year 2100 AD, affecting some of the most densely populated and vulnerable coastal cities and mega polis’s located in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, Mozambique, Philippines, the USA, and Vietnam as well as small Island Nations all over the world especially in South Pacific like Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Federated States of Nauru, Palau, Samoa and Solomon Islands. India also has been identified as one amongst the 27 countries that are most vulnerable to sea level rise caused by global warming. With global warming, the Glaciers are melting on all the six continents as well as in the Arctic Circle and these once majestic glacial mass which used to stretch to the edge of cities like La Paz and El Alto now end up high in the mountains. If present warming trends continue, all glaciers in the Glacier National Park could be gone by 2030 AD. Over the next 100 years, climate change is expected to accelerate and contribute to major ecological, physical, social, and economic changes, many of which have already begun. No one knows how long our planet can sustain and take on this onslaught, what we do know for sure is that climate change especially due to increasing levels of Green House Gases is already harming the fragile ecosystems and humankind all over the world. Its reality can be seen in the melting glaciers, disintegrating polar ice caps, thawing permafrost, changing monsoon patterns, rising sea levels, and fatal heat waves. Scientists are not the only ones talking about El Nino and La Nina which cause global changes in both temperatures and rainfall, it’s also been discussed at length now by Academia, Civil Societies, and Political Leadership, all over the world. ‎ From the apple growers in the orchards of Himachal Pradesh to the farmers in the drought-prone region of Vidharbha and those living on the disappearing islands of Sunder bans Delta a sprawling archipelago, with a core area of 10,000 square kilometres straddling between the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh are already struggling with the impacts of climate change. India has been involved in constructive engagements on Climate Change and Sustainable Development since the inception of United Nations Environment Programme in 1972, through Rio Declaration Earth Summit 1992, Kyoto Protocol 1997, Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development 2002, Copenhagen and the Paris Accord of 2009 and 2016 respectively within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). India is also a party to five major international conventions like the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-World Heritage Committee (UNESCO-WHC) etc.

Plant functional traits and microbes vary with position on striped periglacial patterned ground at Glacier National Park, Montana

The retreating snowfields and glaciers of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, present alpine plants with changes in habitat and hydrology. The adjacent and relic periglacial patterned ground consists of solifluction terraces of green, vegetation-rich stripes alternating with sparsely vegetated brown stripes. We established georeferenced transects on striped periglacial patterned ground for long-term monitoring and data collection on species distribution and plant functional traits at Siyeh Pass and at Piegan Pass at Glacier National Park. We documented species distribution and calculated the relative percent cover (RPC) of qualitative functional traits and used 16S rRNA from soil samples to characterize microbial distribution on green and brown stripes. Plant species distribution varied significantly and there were key differences in microbial distribution between the green and brown stripes. The rare arctic-alpine plants Draba macounii, Papaver pygmaeum, and Sagina nivalis were restricted to brown stripes, where the RPC of xeromorphic taprooted species was significantly higher at the leading edge of the Siyeh Pass snowfield. Brown stripes had a higher percentage of the thermophilic bacteria Thermacetogenium and Thermoflavimicrobium. Green stripes were co-dominated by the adventitiously-rooted dwarf shrubs Salix arctica and the possibly N-fixing Dryas octopetala. Green stripes were inhabited by Krummholz and seedlings of Abies lasiocarpa and Pinus albicaulus. Prosthecobacter, a hydrophilic bacterial genus, was more abundant on the green stripes, which had 6,524 bacterial sequences in comparison to the 1,183 sequences from the brown stripes. While further research can determine which functional traits are critical for these plants, knowledge of the current distribution of plant species and their functional traits can be used in predictive models of the responses of alpine plants to disappearing snowfields and glaciers. This research is important in conservation of rare arctic-alpine species on periglacial patterned ground.

Final Report: Encounters of Bald Eagles Banded at Autumn Concentrations in Glacier National Park, Montana

Final Report: Encounters of Bald Eagles Banded at Autumn Concentrations in Glacier National Park, Montana

Mapping a keystone shrub species, huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), using seasonal colour change in the Rocky Mountains

ABSTRACTBlack huckleberries (Vaccinium membranaceum) provide a critical food resource to many wildlife species, including apex omnivores such as the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), and play an important socioeconomic role for many communities in western North America, especially indigenous peoples. Remote sensing imagery offers the potential for accurate landscape-level mapping of huckleberries because the shrub changes colour seasonally. We developed two methods, for local and regional scales, to map a shrub species using leaf seasonal colour change from remote sensing imagery. We assessed accuracy with ground-based vegetation surveys. The high-resolution supervised random forest classification from one-meter resolution National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery achieved an overall accuracy of 75.31% (kappa = 0.26). The approach using multi-temporal 30-meter Landsat imagery similarly had an overall accuracy of 79.19% (kappa = .31). We found underprediction error was related to higher forest cover and a lack of visible colour change on the ground in some plots. Where forest cover was low, both models performed better. In areas with <10% forest cover, the high-resolution classification achieved an accuracy of 80.73% (kappa = 0.48), while the Landsat model had an accuracy of 82.55% (kappa = 0.47). Based on the fine-scale predictions, we found that 94% of huckleberry shrubs identified in our study area of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA are over 100 meters from human recreation trails. This information could be combined with productivity and phenology information to estimate the timing and availability of food resources for wildlife and to provide managers with a tool to identify and manage huckleberries. The development of the multi-temporal Landsat models sets the stage for assessment of impacts of disturbance at regional scales on this ecologically, culturally, and economically important shrub species. Our approach to map huckleberries is straightforward, efficient and accessible to wildlife and environmental managers and researchers in diverse fields.

The Northern Hawk Owl in Montana: A Summary of Breeding Biology, Diet, Habitat Association, and Records (1994–2015)

We studied Northern Hawk Owls in Montana from 1994 through 2015. We report 36 breeding records, 18 of which included a known nest location. Owls reused one nest in subsequent years, but this nest was included only once in our analysis of nest-site characteristics. All nests were in moderate to severely burned forests from 1–11 yr post-burn. Nests were found in black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa; n = 6), quaking aspen (P. tremuloides; n = 6), Engelmann's spruce (Picea engelmannii; n = 3), and western larch (Larix occidentalis; n = 2). Average nest tree height was 19.6 ± 3.4 m (95% CI, n = 17), average nest height was 14.1 ± 1.6 m (95% CI, n = 17), and average diameter at breast height was 43 ± 4 cm (95% CI, n = 17). Average measurements of nest tree height and nest height were larger than those reported from elsewhere in North America. Diet, based on 274 prey identified from pellets, was 88% voles, most frequently Microtus pennsylvanicus (51%, n = 140). Only 1 of 72 banded owls was recaptured or recovered over the course of this 22-yr study, suggesting a non-sedentary or nomadic population with low site fidelity. The lone recapture represents the first report of a philopatric Northern Hawk Owl in North America. Although this owl is still considered a rare breeder in the conterminous United States, we documented breeding records in 11 of the last 12 yr of this study. All but four known breeding records in Montana occurred within Glacier National Park.