Limited immediate effects of wildfire on Alaska moose harvest

Abstract

Qualitative studies have suggested that forest changes following a wildfire can challenge a hunter’s ability to harvest big game, such as moose (Alces alces). Quantitative effects have not been estimated. Given the increasing prevalence of wildfires, the strong linkages between wildfire and moose habitat, and the importance of moose to the people of the boreal region of North America, our goal was to assess if and how moose harvest patterns changed immediately following a wildfire. To address that goal, we used 36 years (1984–2019) of spatially explicit wildfire and moose harvest data in Alaska to compare moose harvest variables the year before and year after a wildfire occurred. With a few exceptions, the number of hunters, kills, and success rates were similar (p > 0.05, effect size < 0.3) between pre-and post-wildfire years. We estimated a weak to moderate effect on change in moose hunter numbers, kills, and success rate in only a small percentage (1.5%) of wildfires that burned a very large proportion (>38%) of a moose harvest reporting unit. Our findings suggest that wildfire has not caused a clear and functional quantitative effect on hunters’ ability to harvest moose in Alaska.