MOOSE CALVING AREAS AND USE ON THE KENAI NATIONAL MOOSE RANGE, ALASKA

Abstract

Although female moose (Alces alces) with newly-born calves have frequently been observed in open, bog-meadow, black spruce (Picea mariana) habitats on the Kenai National Moose Range, moose also calve in other denser habitats where they are more difficult to observe. A total of 139 aerial surveys were flown over one major calving area, the Moose-Chickaloon River area, from 1957 to 1971. Peak use during this period occurred 17-12 years after a wildfire burned 1255 km² in the region. Fluctuations in moose observed per hour in the calving area were probably related to winter mortality and human harvest. Reduced cow moose densities apparently triggered a reproductive response in the late 1960’s despite previous low productivity and deteriorating winter range. Twinning rates were more closely and inversely related to the age of the 1947 burn, time of earliest annual survey, and, to a lesser extent, cows observed per hour. Observations of newly-born calves and calf:cow ratios indicated parturition extended from mid-May to late-June and early July. Estimates of cow numbers in the spring of 1979 indicated less than 10 percent of the region's cow population were observed in the Moose-Chickaloon River calving area.