A definitive system for analysis of grizzly bear habitat and other wilderness resources utilizing LANDSAT multispectral imagery and computer technology

Authors(s): J. J. Craighead, J. S. Sumner and G. B. Scaggs

Publication: Wildlife-Wildlands Instit Monogr

Publisher: U of M Foundation, University of Montana

Publication Date: 0000-00-00

Type:

Location: Missoula MT

Abstract: This monograph is directed to the scientific reader; however, to make the information more readily available to the lay reader, detailed legends which accompany the illustrations and figures represent a brief synopsis of the text. A general, but comprehensive, understanding of the contents can be obtained by reading this note and then sequentially reading all of the figure legends. The basic objectives of this study were to clearly define grizzly bear habitat requirements, to analyze the food habits of the grizzly bear and to devise an accurate, rapid, relatively inexpensive method for analyzing large expanses of remote wilderness by means of computer-interpreted satellite imagery. Chapter I presents a generalized overview of the project and a description of the primary and secondary study areas. Chapter II is devoted to a a comprehensive vegetation/landform description by altitudinal zones of the primary study area in the Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness. Chapter III quantifies grizzly bear food plant abundance and explores the food habits and preferences of grizzly bears. It concludes with plant food values for individual species and overall food resource values for alpine, subalpine and temperate climatic zones. The last two chapters relate to the technology of computer-assisted anaysis of satellite imagery and its application to environmental analysis. Chapter IV describes the process of developng an ecosprectral vegetation classificition for the primary study area. Ground-mapped vegetation/landform data are converted to ecospectral data by means of computer intrepretation of satellite imagery tapes. Following considerable refinement of the computer thematic map, the spectral signature values developed for the parimary area are computer-extrapolated to the secondary study areas (Slategoat and Danaher), and the accuracy of extrapolation is evaluated. Grizzly bear food plants are quantitatively related to the ecospectral classification. The relative value of each vegetation complex is then rated in terms of percent abundance of specific bear food plants present. Finally, the signatures of each vegetation complex are employed to computer-map an area of 1773 square miles in the Bob Marshal and Lincoln-Scapegoat Wilderness Areas. The final resutl, then, is a vegetaion resource classification and inventory of a large expanse of remote, rugged wilderness. Chapter V details some of the myriad applications of the computer-assisted multispectral imagery classification of vegetation including its application to management of the declining populations of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. It also provides an overview of the current status of the grizzly b ar, problems impeding its continued survival, and recommendations for its preservation.

Keywords: animal, mammal, bear, Ursidae, grizzly bear, Ursus arctos horribilis, habitat, food, forage, population, mortality, management