About This Project

Forest roads fragment wildlife habitat and can be a significant stressor for wildlife species. We want to understand the influence roads have on animals. We are examining how forest roads affected the stress response of bears in the Blackfoot Valley, MT. We used scat-detection dogs to collect scats and analyzed the stress hormones they contain. We used these as measures of physiological stress, nutritional stress, and reproductive activity.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The purpose of this study is to give land managers a reason why or why not forest roads should be opened or closed to contribute to the survival of bears. As scientists, we know that some roads have a negative effect on wildlife. With that said, I want to appeal to outdoor users who need public access. This appeal is on the physiological level and self-actualization level. Our conservation strategy will meet the needs of the public whether directly or indirectly affected. Most of the data published shows that roads have a negative effect on bears. Based on observations from private landowners, bears use field roads on ranches to move and to feed. We hope to show that not all roads are bad for bears, bears use some roads more than others!

What is the significance of this project?

Assessing the effects of forest roads on the stress response of bears assumes that roads have a deleterious effect on their behavior, stress response, and activity. This study is the first to our knowledge that has directly assessed the effects of roads on black bears using cortisol. We do not believe that this is the case for all roads. No study at this point has used thyroid hormones specifically for nutritional stress assessment and/or assessed the effect of field roads. These results will help the land management agencies and personnel facilitate a balance for improving road management and reducing adverse effects to wildlife. The study will help in maintaining and improving access to our federal lands and private lands.

What are the goals of the project?

Our goals are to better understand how forest roads affect the stress response of bears using glucocorticoid, thyroid hormones, and progesterone from bear scats we collect that represent a population of bears using a fragmented landscape with different use restrictions. We want to decipher if all forest road types cause stress to bears, improve relationships between wildlife agencies and landowners in the Blackfoot Valley and to gain a better understanding of bears use of field roads on their properties, and ultimately mechanistically address long-debated relationships between bears and the roads that allow human access to where they live.