Modelling critical caribou summer ranges in West Greenland

Increasing tourism and mineral exploitation potentially affects the caribou range use. This fact requires identification of critical caribou areas to be able to avoid large effects on the population. We have applied resource selection functions using data from satellite tracking of caribou, satellite-based vegetation maps and a digital elevation model. Maps showing five levels of relative-probability-of-use for caribou during the summer in West Greenland were prepared. The maps clearly illustrate that the caribou are much more selective in choosing their feeding habitats in July than in late summer. Therefore, activities like tourism and mineral exploration would have least impact in September. We validated the results by comparing the models from the ARGOS-based locations with two models based on locations obtained during fieldwork. We therefore conclude that the method and satellite-based data used in this study are valuable tools for resource management in remote areas like West Greenland.