Wolverine Research and Conservation in the Boreal Forest

North American wolverines face a myriad of threats from human disturbance. Matthew discusses his work to better understand the ecology and management of wolverines in boreal forest landscapes with industrial development. He will highlight research on wolverine denning ecology, habitat selection, density, survival, physiology, trapping, and home ranges, and relate how this work has helped update management guidelines for the species.

Speaker: Dr Scrafford is an independent research scientist and adjunct professor at Lakehead University in the Natural Resources Management department. He received his MSc at Montana State University where he studied the ecology of reintroduced beavers north of Yellowstone Park. He received his PhD from the University of Alberta with a research focus on wolverine ecology in industrialized habitats in the Rainbow Lake and Birch Mountains in northern Alberta. Currently, he works to advance the understanding and conservation of wolverines and caribou in Alberta and Ontario. His major research projects include a wolverine radiotelemetry and camera-trapping study in Red Lake, Ontario to document the effects of human disturbances on wolverine abundance, distribution, survival, and denning. He is leading winter aerial surveys for wolverine and caribou tracks to understand long term changes in their distribution, and is leading a camera trapping study to determine how predators of caribou use decommissioned forestry roads.