Riley Waytes, Patricia Tomchuk

The Skeena Wildlife Ecological Resource Model (SkWERM) is a large-scale, ecosystem-based wildlife habitat model developed to inform land-use across the Skeena region of BC, Canada. The Skeena region is huge (~ 20,000km2; almost the size of Sicily) and remote, meaning that wildlife GPS data are sparse and localized, making region-wide habitat models based primarily on animal data impracticable. It is also costly and inefficient to respond to ad hoc requests about proposed economic projects (e.g. pipeline, mining) or cumulative effects of planned harvests because each requires compiling available local data, identifying gaps, and proposing recommendations under tight timelines and with limited information.
To address these constraints, SkWERM integrates scientific and First Nations expertise, structured field observations, and animal data to produce species-specific, seasonal habitat suitability layers. Currently focused on moose and grizzly bears, the framework is collaborative, iterative, and can be adjusted to new species and new data.
SkWERM is built on standardized spatial data, including ecosystem classification and forest inventory data. Ecosystem units are ranked for seasonal and essential life requisites (e.g. bear spring forage and hibernation; moose winter shelter and forage). Ecosystem capability is then modified by variables describing forest attributes, topography, and disturbance history to derive current suitability.
Critically, SkWERM “speaks forestry” by linking data used by the forestry sector into its modelling process and outputs. This gives SkWERM the flexibility to directly inform forest estate projections by forecasting seasonal habitat under alternative harvest scenarios. We have applied this to forest plans under development in the region and continue to develop wildlife-centric planning guidelines, supporting landscape plans and cumulative effects assessments that consider interactions among habitat, land-use, and population objectives.