The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

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For information regarding contents ofthis report, please contact the followingAmerican Wildlands staff:General Questions and ContentApril JohnstonConservation Directorajohnston@wildlands.org(406) 586-8175 x 106Maps, Data Analysis, and MethodologySarah OlimbGIS Lab Managersolimb@wildlands.org(406) 586-8175 x 103Julie BetschGIS Specialistjbetsch@wildlands.org(406) 586-8175 x 109Special thanks to the following organizationsand foundations for funding the Priority LinkageAssessment:LaSalle Adams FoundationMid Shore Community FoundationMontana Fish, Wildlife & ParksNew-Land FoundationPage FoundationWeeden FoundationWilburforce FoundationYellowstone to Yukon Conservation InitiativeRecommended document citation:American Wildlands. 2009. Priority Linkage Assessment: The Hub Conservation Area. TechnicalReport. Version 1.0. http://www.wildlands.org/programs/corridors/pla17
IntroductionMaintaining the ecological connections, orwildlife movement corridors, between majorwildland habitats is one of the most pressingchallenges for habitat and wildlife conservationin the Northern Rockies today. The designationof national parks, refuges, wilderness, androadless areas—without conserving the habitatthat ties them together—creates a series ofcore habitat “islands.” These islands of habitatmay eventually lead to extinction for residentwildlife because of negative influences commonamong small, isolated populations of wildlife—inbreeding, outbreaks of disease, the effects ofnatural disasters, and the inability of wildlife tore-colonize an area.American WildlandsCorridors of Life ProgramOverviewAmerican Wildlands’ Corridors of Life programfocuses on keeping these large protected areas—the core habitats-–ecologically connected withinthe U.S. Northern Rockies. American Wildlands(AWL) works to restore and maintain the wildlifemovement corridors between these protectedcore habitats for the benefit of wide-ranging ormigratory animals. Our work is the ecologicallynecessarycomplement to the work of local,state, regional and national conservation groupsthat focus on conserving the large core habitatsof this region.American Wildlands addresses habitatconnectivity at both the regional scale and atthe more localized landscape level (addressingthe need of wildlife to be able to move aboutwithin these regional corridors). The regionalcontext addresses the needs of wide-rangingspecies such as grizzly bear, wolf, lynx andwolverine, while the landscape contextaddresses wildlife whose movement needsare more localized such as elk, moose, andbighorn sheep.More than a decade ago, AWL literally putwildlife corridors in the Northern Rockies ona map with the development of a least costpath model developed by Dr. Lance Craigheadand Richard Walker (Figure 1). The modelshown below in Figure 1, identified the areasmost likely to provide connectivity for forestcarnivores. For the past decade, AmericanWildlands used this model to focus ourconservation activities; however, much haschanged in the Northern Rockies landscape inthe past decade, and an update to the originalCorridors model was needed, so the PriorityLinkage Assessment was born.American WildlandsCabinet -PurcellsEcosystemLewiston!Coeur d'Alene!Corridors of LifeSalmon - SelwayEcosystemCore AreasHigh Qual. CorridorsBoise´!0 20 40 Kilometers0 20 40 MilesLow Qual. CorridorsCorridors of Life Program1Kalispell!2Missoula!Crownof theContinentEcosystemButte!Pocatello!Helena!Idaho Falls!Bear River RangeBearLakeGreat Falls!Bozeman!GreaterYellowstoneEcosystemAlpine!Jackson!Protecting Habitat Connectivity for Wildlifein the U.S. Northern Rockies4Regional Conservation Corridors Area1. Cabinet- Purcells2. Crown of the Continent3. The Hub4. The High DivideFigure 1. 1995 Walker and Craighead Corridors model(most recently updated in 2006).3Cody!Lander!18
Page 5 and 6: Executive SummaryMaintaining the ec
Page 7 and 8: Map 1. The Hub Conservation Area ma
Page 9 and 10: Map 3. Major elk linkages identifie
Page 12 and 13: Map 6. Major mule deer linkages ide
Page 14 and 15: Map 8. Major wolf linkages identifi
Page 16 and 17: Map 10. Major grizzly bear linkages
Page 20 and 21: American Wildlands’ PriorityLinka
Page 22 and 23: Georgetown Lake,photo by Grace Hamm
Page 24 and 25: Beaverhead Mountains to the south,
Page 26 and 27: with mountainous wet meadows and ri
Page 28 and 29: irds). This step was repeated for c
Page 30 and 31: Figure 4. Hierarchical breakdown of
Page 32 and 33: sanitation and conflict issues betw
Page 34 and 35: Literature ReviewThis review is mea
Page 36 and 37: that this impediment is deleterious
Page 38 and 39: may not provide functional connecti
Page 40 and 41: available during dispersal, and new
Page 43 and 44: and desert; this reflects overall a
Page 45 and 46: Photo by Denver Bryanpopulations. L
Page 47 and 48: Mountain goat (Oreamnos americanus)
Page 49 and 50: GUIDE TO READINGPRIORITY LINKAGE AS
Page 51 and 52: Absaroka to CraziesSpeciesGeographi
Page 53 and 54: BangtailsSpeciesGeographic Boundary
Page 55 and 56: Bear CreekSpeciesGeographic Boundar
Page 58 and 59: Big BeltsSpeciesGeographic Boundary
Page 60 and 61: to disease transmission between dom
Page 62: sightings in the Birch Creek area.
Page 65 and 66: Elk move within this linkage for wi
Page 67: south of the linkage area.Wolverine
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ange for about 200 elk, and the Spr
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winter range is private land on the
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e using the Little Belt Mountains,
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Front south along the Continental D
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Clinton to DrummondSpeciesGeographi
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There has been a settlement with At
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Mountain Goats: The highest density
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suspected in very low levels, even
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dispersal corridor for all of these
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the area. Hunting access in general
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with the Elkhorns.Wolverines are kn
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FleecerSpeciesGeographic BoundaryFl
Page 98 and 99:
negotiated grazing agreements on th
Page 100 and 101:
traffic volumes are increasing sign
Page 102 and 103:
pack in the linkage. The large size
Page 104 and 105:
Garnets to BouldersSpeciesGeographi
Page 106 and 107:
105
Page 108 and 109:
persistent spring snow and may be k
Page 110 and 111:
Garnets. The Clark Fork River Corri
Page 112 and 113:
Horseshoe HillsSpeciesGeographic Bo
Page 114 and 115:
Hound CreekSpeciesGeographic Bounda
Page 116 and 117:
Jefferson SloughSpeciesGeographic B
Page 118 and 119:
117
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Willow packs moved here from the po
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the high potential for conflict wit
Page 125 and 126:
the Castle Mountains south of Whets
Page 127 and 128:
Lolo to TurahSpeciesGeographic Boun
Page 129 and 130:
path; this could further fragment w
Page 131 and 132:
Lost TrailSpeciesGeographic Boundar
Page 133 and 134:
MacDonald Pass toFleecer/Mt. Haggin
Page 135 and 136:
claims within the area and 75 are b
Page 137 and 138:
Conservation ThreatsDevelopment cou
Page 139 and 140:
MaxvilleSpeciesGeographic BoundaryT
Page 141 and 142:
Norris HillSpeciesGeographic Bounda
Page 143 and 144:
PipestoneSpeciesGeographic Boundary
Page 145 and 146:
144
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persistent snow pack.Lynx: Boles Cr
Page 149 and 150:
Potter BasinSpeciesGeographic Bound
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150
Page 153 and 154:
Mountain goats exist in small pocke
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Rocky Mountain Front to Big BeltMou
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Disease between bighorn sheep and d
Page 159 and 160:
the linkage, grizzly bear forage in
Page 161 and 162:
influencing how wildlife connectivi
Page 163 and 164:
Several bighorn sheep herds form am
Page 165 and 166:
Silver StarSpeciesGeographic Bounda
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166
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controlled. In recent years, approx
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esulting from livestock depredation
Page 173 and 174:
StickneySpeciesGeographic BoundaryT
Page 175 and 176:
SulaSpeciesGeographic BoundaryThe S
Page 177 and 178:
Tom Miner to Mill CreekSpeciesGeogr
Page 179 and 180:
178
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development. Subdivision, fencing a
Page 183 and 184:
Townsend from 1000 to 300 animals.
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These appear to be important for gr
Page 187 and 188:
186
Page 189 and 190:
Other existing packs include the Wo
Page 191 and 192:
Creek and the Boulder River south o
Page 193 and 194:
192
Page 195 and 196:
Harestad A.S., and F.L. Bunnell. 19
Page 197 and 198:
Trakhtenbrot, A. R. Nathan, G. Perr
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Appendix 1 (cont.).Table 1Mammals o
Page 201 and 202:
Appendix 2 (cont.).Table 2Home Rang
Page 203 and 204:
Appendix 3 (cont.).Table 3Migration
Page 205 and 206:
Appendix 4 (cont.).Table 4Dispersal
Page 207 and 208:
Appendix 5 (cont.).Studies Demonstr
Page 209:
American Wildlands ~ Winter 2008
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The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

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