Pa mountain lion
The entire Western Pennsylvania after being selected as the winning paper/plan.Īcross the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, forests cover nearly 60 percent of land (NW PA Woodland Association), providing local residents and passing tourists with ecosystem services and aesthetic scenery. Our plan is now the standard practice of the FFSF for Allowed the FFSF to contact private landowners to create partnerships for sustainable forestry practices. Interdisciplinary study using GIS to select sites based on spatial suitability analysis. Using GIS Spatial Analysis for Selecting Forested Sites within Mercer County, Pennsylvania, for the Foundation for Sustainable Forests (FFSF) – Bartels, Garcia, et al., 2015 The benefits of increased ecosystem functioning and population control are discussed in addition to the proposed site of reintroduction (Gugliotta, 2013). Using GIS software, suitable habitat in Pennsylvania near (insert location) was selected because it provided the mountain lions (variables like remoteness, food, cover). Key predators like mountain lions are essential for population control of overpopulated game species such as white tail deer and rabbits. The return of top predator in an ecosystem is expected to have drastic effects on the habitats they inhabit. Sightings have increased on the east coast as mountain lions move back into the range they once inhabited. Today there are estimated to be more than 30,000 mountain lions in North America. Some scientists believe the subspecies was forced into extinction altogether with individuals not killed outright or displaced by habitat fragmentation/destructing being forced to assimilate into southern or western populations of panthers. Once native to the east coast, the eastern mountain lion was extirpated from the majority of its range. habitat suitable for the reintroduction of mountain lions (Puma concolor) was chosen in Pennsylvania. Using GIS spatial analysis of key variables such as canopy cover, land use, prey availability, etc. Variables examined using GIS included: land cover, tree canopy density, elevation, distance to water, roadway density, prey species abundance, distance from human populations, and land ownership. Published Paper for The State of Pennsylvania on a site suitability analysis for selecting habitats within the state to release mountain lions into their extirpated range. Determining Acceptable Reintroduction Ranges in Pennsylvania for Extirpated Mountain Lions Through the Use of GIS Mapping – Bartels & Wooten, 2014