Assessing harvesting impacts on marten habitat at the scale of Indigenous traplines – a study in support of future Indigenous consultation

Abstract

Clear-cut logging in boreal Ontario has long been investigated for its wildlife habitat impacts, however the effects of harvesting on populations of furbearers at the scale of traplines brings to the forefront issues not just of population survival but of cultural and economic impacts, particularly for First Nations trappers. This study was developed to model the change in habitat suitability for American marten due to planned future harvest for an Indigenous trapline in northeastern Ontario to infer the impacts on marten populations at this scale and situate the results in the context of current policy for marten management. Using R programming software, habitat suitability was modelled non-spatially and spatially. All modelling indicated that planned future harvesting over the ten-year horizon will cause a decrease in habitat suitability for marten in the study region, as well as impact the ability of the study region to act as an area with a source population of marten (due to decreasing home range and core areas). In a province where legislation for marten no longer mandates protection of core areas and does not address marten under fine filter management, the effects of silviculture on marten populations could be dire at the scale of traplines, and this study affirms the need for customized and considerate forest management approaches for Indigenous communities.