A2 THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2022
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Study: Wildlife are more sensitive
to humans than we thought
“Our study indicates that if
people want to recreate and
minimize their impact on
wildlife, it would actually
be better to go hiking
on busier trails because
those sites are disturbing
wildlife anyway. I think,
unfortunately, there is a
trade-off with the human’s
experience and the impact
on wildlife.”
BY ELI FRANCOVICH
Idaho Statesman
We have a people problem.
That was the message Laura
Prugh received from the U.S.
Park Service in Glacier Bay,
Alaska, several years ago.
For Prugh, who studies hu-
man-wildlife interactions in
the relatively crowded state of
Washington, the claim seemed
a bit overstated.
After all, only 40,000 peo-
ple visit the 3.2-million-acre
park annually — absurdly
low numbers for anyone ac-
customed to recreating in the
Washington or Oregon Cas-
cades, for instance.
In fact, Glacier Bay is only
accessed by boat or plane and
94% of visitors come via cruise
ship. Yet, park service employ-
ees reported increasing num-
bers and they wanted to know
how — or if — that trend was
impacting native wildlife. So
Prugh, an associate professor
in the University of Washing-
ton School of Environmental
and Forest Sciences, visited.
“I was just shocked at how
few people there were,” she
said. “And I thought ‘Wow,
these people have really lost
perspective on what a lot of
visitors are.’ ”
Still, she agreed to conduct
the study. Over the course
of two summers, she col-
lected images from 40 mo-
tion-activated cameras across
10 sites focusing on wolves,
black bears, brown bears and
moose. She fully expected to
find little to no “difference in
animal activity between the
high-use sites and the low-use
sites.”
She was wrong.
In a study published this
month, Prugh and her co-au-
thors found if humans were
present, the cameras detected
fewer than five animals per
week across all four species
studied. In most cases, this
likely meant that animals
avoided areas where humans
were present. Second, in back-
country areas, wildlife detec-
tions dropped to zero each
week once outdoor recreation
levels reached the equivalent
of about 40 visitors per week.
The researchers note that in
some places where animals are
more habituated to humans
the reaction to human pres-
ence will be less.
While it’s just one study, in
one place, the findings have
implications for recreation
management.
“Our study indicates that if
people want to recreate and
minimize their impact on
wildlife, it would actually be
Sorin Colac/Dreamstime
Ice calving at Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.
better to go hiking on busier
trails because those sites are
disturbing wildlife anyway,”
she said. “I think, unfortu-
nately, there is a trade-off with
the human’s experience and
the impact on wildlife.”
A developing field
The question of how, or
even if, outdoor human rec-
reation of the nonhunting va-
riety impacts wildlife is “kind
of an emerging field,” Prugh
said. Despite its relative youth,
numerous recreation ecology
studies have shown that ani-
mals do change their behavior
in response to human pres-
ence.
Some mammals have be-
come more nocturnal, for-
going their normal daytime
routines in hopes of avoiding
human presence. In Montana,
wolverines and bighorn sheep
avoid areas where backcoun-
try skiers shred. Wild reindeer
flee farther and longer from
backcountry skiers than from
snowmobiles, according to an-
other study.
That’s all well documented;
however, what hadn’t been
looked at was the minimum
threshold of disturbance or, in
simpler terms, just how many
humans does it take to send
a grizzly packing, said Joel
Berger, a professor at Colo-
rado State University and the
author of “The Better to Eat
You With: Fear in the Animal
World.”
The UW study begins to
answer that question, he said.
Berger was not part of Prugh’s
study and hasn’t met her, al-
though he said he’s admired
her research.
“The Prugh study provides
the first quantitative evidence,
in my impression, on re-
sponses of species of wildlife
when exposed to people in
these low-density situations,”
he said.
He said it also showed vari-
ation in species response to
human activity, noting that
Prugh’s study found that
moose were more active if
people were around, indicat-
ing the large ungulates were
using human presence as a
shield against warier animals,
like wolves. That’s known as
the human-shield hypothesis,
a term coined by Berger.
“The question is, what does
it take for animals to learn?”
he said. “To be able to adopt
this anti-predator anti-harass-
ment disturbance strategy.”
In addition to those ques-
tions the study also raises a
conundrum for recreation
planners and outdoor enthusi-
asts, both in remote and more
urban settings.
Implications for recreation
The balance between rec-
reation and wildlife is some-
thing Paul Knowles, Spokane
County’s park planner, consid-
ers often.
“As a land manager you sac-
rifice some areas, in a sense,
so that others can be primarily
dedicated to wildlife habitat,”
he said.
When county planners de-
sign and build trails they try to
include “wildlife disturbance
buffers.” These buffers are
built using the best available
science on how much space
species need from humans.
In an urbanized environment
like Spokane County, however,
it’s not always possible to in-
clude that space.
— Laura Prugh, an associate
professor in the University
of Washington School of
Environmental and Forest
Sciences
Anecdotally, at least,
Knowles said he’s heard “time
and time again” that once a
property is acquired by the
county and developed for
recreation, wildlife sightings
plummet.
“We acquire these conser-
vation areas for multiple pur-
poses and multiple benefits,
including recreation,” he said.
“So we have to find a way to
balance those out. It’s tough.”
That’s the larger point,
Prugh said. She has no desire
or intention to tell people they
shouldn’t hike. But recreation-
ists should be aware that their
activity — no matter how
peaceful seeming — affects
wildlife.
“It’s not that people should
stop recreation,” she said. “But
what is the best way to balance
these trade-offs?”
“I don’t paint things. I paint the
difference between things.”
- Henri Matisse
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