Habitat Suitability Modeling for Bald Eagle Nesting Sites in the Thousand Islands Ecosystem of Ontario, Canada

Bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, habitat modeling in the Thousand Islands may assist the binational Lake Ontario Lake-wide Management Plan (LaMP) to identify and protect remaining suitable bald eagle nesting habitat in the Lake Ontario basin and upper St. Lawrence River region. This first draft predictive model uses local nesting habitat criteria and ModelBuilder™ software's arithmetic overlay process to weigh positive nesting habitat criteria (proximity to food sources and forest presence) against negative anthropogenic stressors (proximity to roads and built-up areas) to produce a nesting habitat suitability map.

Maps such as this can be used by researchers to ground-truth high-probability habitat and work with local landowners to achieve the goals of LaMP, which may include the construction of artificial nesting platforms. Through the Canadian Space Agency Government Related Initiatives Program, habitat suitability maps of this nature are used in tandem with remotely sensed earth observation data and historic air photos to create three-dimensional videos that help communicate the complex results of GIS analyses. Temporal land-use patterns and biophysical changes that occur in and around national park ecosystems are also demonstrated virtually.

Acknowledgments: R.A. (Bud) Andress (Parks Canada Agency), Leila Veenstra (Carleton University), and Jean Poitevin (Parks Canada Agency)