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Campbell G.D., Nishi J.S., Ellsworth
T.R..
2003. Bison Control Area Program Annual Report of Survey Activities Dec
02- Apr 03.
Abstract
Bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) and
brucellosis (Brucella abortus) are present in bison herds in and
around Wood Buffalo National Park, and the Slave River Lowlands. In 1987,
the Bison Control Area (BCA), along with a surveillance program, was created
to minimize the risk of disease transmission to the disease-free Mackenzie
and Nahanni-Liard bison herds in the Northwest Territories. During the
2002-2003 surveillance season, we used either a Cessna 172 or 210, depending
on aircraft availability, to fly 11 shoreline patrols along the northern
boundary of the BCA on a weekly basis from 9 January 2002 to 15 April 2003.
We contracted a Cessna 185 based in Fort Providence to conduct an additional
patrol on 25 April 2003. We flew a total of 27.7 hours during shoreline
patrols. We used a Cessna 337 to fly two monthly semi-comprehensive aerial
surveys of BCA Zone I in January and March 2003 (11.0 and 11.3 hours
respectively). From 1 - 6 April 2003 we used a Cessna 185 to perform the
annual comprehensive survey of BCA Zones I and II. We flew a total of 39.8
hours to complete this survey. In total, we flew 86.8 hours to
systematically survey the BCA during the 2002 - 2003 surveillance season. On
23 January 2003 during a shoreline patrol, four bison were spotted halfway
across the Mackenzie River near the ice crossing. A shoreline patrol
aircraft attempted to haze these animals toward the north shore and we later
confirmed that the four bison did in fact travel back to the north shore (E.
Landry pers. comm.). We observed a total of 1537 bison throughout our
surveillance activities but they were all outside the northern boundary of
the Bison Control Area and within the southern extent of the range of the
Mackenzie bison herd. We did not receive any public reports of confirmed
bison sightings in the BCA. Throughout the surveillance season we observed
75 moose, 18 caribou, and 5 wolves. |
