摘要：The effects of landscape changes caused by intensive logging on the availability of wildgame are important when the harvest of wild game is a critical cultural practice, food source, and recreationalactivity. We assessed the influence of extensive industrial logging on the availability of wild game bydrawing on local knowledge and ecological science to evaluate the relationship between forest change andopportunities to harvest Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) on Prince of Wales Island,Alaska. We used data collected through interviews with local deer hunters and GIS analysis of land coverto determine relationships among landscape change, hunter access, and habitat for deer hunting over thelast 50 yr. We then used these relationships to predict how harvest opportunities may change in the future.Intensive logging from 1950 into the 1990s provided better access to deer and habitat that facilitated deerhunting. However, successional changes in intensively logged forests in combination with a decline incurrent logging activity have reduced access to deer and increased undesirable habitat for deer hunting. Inthis new landscape, harvest opportunities in previously logged landscapes have declined, and huntersidentify second-growth forest as one of the least popular habitats for hunting. Given the current state ofthe logging industry in Alaska, it is unlikely that the logging of the remaining old-growth forests or intensivemanagement of second-growth forests will cause hunter opportunities to rebound to historic levels. Instead,hunter opportunities may continue to decline for at least another human generation, even if the long-termimpacts of logging activity and deer harvest on deer numbers are minimal. Adapting hunting strategies tofocus on naturally open habitats such as alpine and muskeg that are less influenced by external marketforces may require considerably more hunting effort but provide the best option for sustaining deer huntingas a local tradition over the long run. We speculate that managing deer habitat in accessible areas may bemore important than managing the overall health of deer populations on a regional scale. We further suggestthat the level of access to preferred hunting habitat may be just as important as deer densities in determininghunter efficiency
