Van Dyke, FG, RH Brocke, HG Shaw, BB Ackerman, TP Hemker, and FG Lindzey. 1986. Reactions of mountain lions to logging and human activity. Journal of Wildlife Management 50(1): 95-102.

RELEVANT TO:

ROADS/OFF-ROAD VEHICLES

VEGETATION AND WILDLIFE

MONITORING/ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

DESCRIPTION

This article reviews 1970s and 1980s data from southcentral Utah (near Escalante) and Arizona (Kaibab Plateau) regarding the response of mountain lions to specific human environmental disturbances, such as logging activity and the presence of roads. The lions were collared. The Arizona lions were relocated approximately twice a week, with their locations recorded in relation to active and past timber activity. Utah lions were relocated once a week and their daily movements monitored for 24 hours in relation to the presence of humans or their structures.

This article measures changes in behavior relating to road densities. Adult mountain lions avoided areas that had been logged in the past six years, as well as areas with higher road densities.

MAJOR FINDINGS

Lions rarely were found in or near timber sale locations, whether or not the sale area was active or inactive (p.97).

Lion movement through timber sale areas was also rare.

Lions did not use timber sale areas adjacent to their home ranges for 6 years after logging activities stopped (p.100).

Lions modified activity patterns when exposed to human disturbance. They became more active during the night, as opposed to around sunrise.

Transient lions were more likely to have encounters with human disturbance in general, as well as with "closer" (as opposed to "distant") disturbances than resident lions. The presence of food was associated with 42% of all disturbance encounters involving transients but only 26% of the encounters involving residents.

Several possible explanations of lion behavior around logging areas: (p.100)

  1. Human presence and activity associated with logging;
  2. increased road density and associated human access at the sale site, including increased hunting pressure;
  3. altered prey densities; and/or
  4. altered habitat characteristics, especially removal of stalking cover.

Areas ultimately selected for residence tended to be characterized by: (p. 101)

Two possible implications about the impact of human disturbance on mountain lions: (p.101)

  1. Areas that experience permanent or repeated habitat alteration are reduced in quality to the lion population, even if human residence, presence, or activity is temporary.
  2. Areas where there is continuing concentrated human presence or residence are essentially lost to the lion population, even if there is little impact on the habitat itself.

QUESTIONS RAISED FOR THE THREE FORESTS

  1. Have declines of mountain lions from timber harvests or increased road densities been considered on any of the Three Forests? If such declines have occurred, would they have been recorded? If so, how?
  1. Which populations of mountain lions are stable/unstable on these Three Forests? What is their geographic proximity to recent timber sales/human disturbances?

RELEVANCE TO FOREST MANAGEMENT

Maps of stable/unstable/declining populations of mountain lions and other wide-ranging carnivores on the Forests need to be related to decisions regarding the location of transportation routes and recreational activities.