2011-09-26 Efficacy of Road Removal for Restoring Wildlife Habitat: Black Bear in the Northern Rocky Mountains, USA

Significant report by T. Adam Switalski and Cara R. Nelson in Biological Conservation magazine. Black bears are relatively tolerant of human use, but they were found to use closed, re-contoured roads considerably more than roads which were gated. This has important implications for access management in Alberta.

Findings included:

• "Bear frequency was significantly higher and human frequency was significantly lower on closed than on open roads.
• "Bears were detected on closed but not on open roads during daytime, suggesting avoidance of humans.
• "Among-road-treatment differences included significantly higher frequency of bears on recontoured than on gated or barriered roads.
• "Results suggest that while all types of road closure benefit sensitive wildlife, removal by recontour may be the most effective strategy for restoring habitat."