By creating habitat suitability models for deer and elk (and consequently wolves) we were able to identify core areas representing the best available habitat remaining for wolves on Northern Vancouver Island. We were then able to identify the best available connectivity corridors between these areas. We recommended the construction of wildlife overpasses to enable the use of these corridors where they unavoidably intersected with major human transportation corridors.
Clearcut logging is the main threat to the survival of the Vancouver Island wolf, a subspecies of Grey Wolf already extirpated to Northern Vancouver Island by other anthropogenic pressures. To preserve habitat retention and connectivity across the landscape, we recommend management decisions that protect identified corridors and core areas that do not already fall within existing protected areas. Our results suggest that, by protecting key habitat cores/corridors and building wildlife overpasses, it is possible to permit the dispersion of Vancouver Island wolves across the landscape, improving access to prey, genetic dispersion, and species resilience in the face of habitat fragmentation.