| Human recreational and agricultural activities within public forests generate unintended
perturbations for wildlife occupying the forests. Many of these effects likely will persist
in perpetuity and need study. I inventoried the wild birds and mammals occupying a
multiuse National Forest in southeastern Idaho, USA by measuring their presence
through the use of remote sensing camera traps, avian abundance counts, and small
mammal live-trapping. Simultaneously, I measured human use of trails and occurrence of
livestock on trails within the forest through camera traps placed throughout the public
trail network in the forest. I statistically modeled relationships between types of human
recreation or presence of livestock and the abundance of wildlife from measured taxa, i.e.
medium- and large- bodied mammals, small mammals, and birds. Wildlife did not exhibit
universal or ubiquitous responses at the community level to human or livestock use.
Rather, I observed significant taxon-specific responses. For example, mule deer
(Odocoileus hemionus) were highly responsive to motorized use of public trails,
exhibiting a pronounced temporal avoidance, whereas coyotes (Canis latrans) predictably
co-occurred with presence of domestic cattle (Bos taurus). As humans increase their use
of public forests for recreation and continue agricultural use, it is imperative for land and
wildlife managers to understand how human activities within public forests influence the
wildlife species occupying these forests in order to conserve forest wildlife communities
effectively.
Keywords: biodiversity, ecological baseline, motorized, nonmotorized, public land,
recreation |