Martin Wyttenbach, master student, Zentr. Naturmanagement ZHAW Assessing the spatio-temporal pattern of winter sports activities to minimize disturbance

Martin Wyttenbach, master student, Zentr. Naturmanagement ZHAW

Assessing the spatio-temporal pattern of winter sports activities to minimize disturbance in

capercaillie habitats

Move workshop, 27.10.2011

Keywords: GPS logging, backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, Tetrao urogallus, wildlife management, visitor management, recreation ecology, human wildlife conflict, Biosfera Val Mustair

mafreina Management • Freizeit • Natur Move Workshop Zürich, 27.10. 2011

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Bild tiere im winter

• Info wildtiere

Bild: Roland Graf

Disturbance of capercaillie habitats


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Problems

• Assessing spatial disturbance effects of

wintersport activities on capercaillies

• Identify and quantify the capercaillie habitats

affected by backcountry skiers and snowshoers

• Find a measure to describe disturbance intensity

-> suggest management actions


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GPS-LoggingSkitourenrouten Val Müstair

• Skitouren val müstair fokus piz daint

Piz DoraPiz Turettas

Karte: Swisstopo 1:200`000

TschiervStart Touren 2009

Start Touren 2010


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Piz Dora

Ascent Piz Dora



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Spatial analysisdata

• GPS tracks (ski-/snowboard- and snowshoetours) and official routes were

used as vector line data

• All other data were converted into raster (cell size 25 m)

• buffer of 100 m around GPS tracks (capercaillie flushing distance)


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1. Line density (simple density)

• Density of GPS tracks within a range of 100 m for each raster cell

(km/km2).

• A straight crossing through the density extent of one raster cell is 200 m

(equalling a density of 0.2 km / 0.0314 km2).

Calculation of crossings

• Total numer of crossings per raster cell (n)

n = (L1 + L2)

D

Spatial analysis

D

L1: 170 mL2: 230 mD: 200m


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2. Counting

Translation of relative densities into absolute numbers (combination of GPS

tracking and data from camera traps)

• Camera traps: 69 recreationalists per week (average count)

• dataset: 70 GPS tracks passing through the camera trap location

-> density from GPS track data used in the analysis represents an average

number of crossings per week

Spatial analysis


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3. Classification

1) not affected = no crossings at all;

2) low = 1 to 3 (includes single trips with roaming patterns);

3) medium = 4 to 24

(4) intense = 25 and more.

Spatial analysis


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Overall densities



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Capercaillie core habitat


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Improvements

• Trips as vector point data (points per area as a measure

for disturbance)

• Seperate class for brakes -> method to define brakes

• Differenciate ascent and descent

• Further methods to assess spatio-temporal use by

recreationalists?

• Analysis of behavior refering to official routes and

activitys?


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Thank you for your attention!


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Questions• Further methods to assess spatio-temporal use by

recreationalists?

• Precision of classification; expl: low 1 – 3 crossings

including roaming patterns -> identification and

classification of roaming patterns

• Analysis of behavior refering to official routes and

activitys?

Documents

Martin Wyttenbach, master student, Zentr. Naturmanagement ZHAW Assessing the spatio-temporal pattern of winter sports activities to minimize disturbance