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1.Cook Inlet beluga whales (CIBWs; Delphinapterus leucas), are an isolated and declining endangered population in Alaska, USA. Their critical habitat has been broadly defined, with little empirical data on habitat use to direct management actions. This article examines data collected during surveys for a long‐term photo‐ID study to gain insight into the use of critical habitat by CIBW groups and individuals, with a focus on areas where belugas were observed feeding, calving, rearing young, and in transit. It also describes patterns of group distribution, size, and composition, according to sex and age class, in order to better understand how CIBWs are distributed throughout critical habitat during the ice‐free season. The results are presented according to survey month and survey zone, so that patterns of habitat use are accessible in a useful format to aid managers in evaluations of how timing and location of human activities occurring in CIBW critical habitat may overlap with CIBW occurrence and use of these areas.2.There were 575 beluga groups encountered during 477 photo‐ID surveys conducted in CIBW critical habitat 2005–2017. CIBW locations were mapped, and models were developed to test for temporal and spatial patterns. Approximately 400 individual whales were identified, and their sighting histories were compiled to examine residency and movement patterns.3.CIBWs were found seasonally in distinct areas, where they aggregate in large groups of both sexes and all age classes while rearing calves and feeding. These areas, and the general corridors connecting them, represent important beluga habitat that warrant focused management attention and protection efforts.4.Whales travelling among distinct areas of Cook Inlet increase their likelihood of exposure to multiple, localized threats.5.Habitat protection and the regulation of anthropogenic activities should consider cumulative effects of all activities in the range of CIBWs and their potential to affect the entire population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selection and use of dens is a critical behavioral adaption of bears (Ursus spp.) to survive extended periods of resource limitation. We analyzed selection of den sites by brown bears (Ursus arctos) in an arctic montane environment from 2014 to 2017.We used GPS data from 51 instrumented bears to physically locate, identify, and describe den sites (n = 33) and to quantitatively model the selection of denning habitat (n = 65 dens over 3 yr). We conducted an analysis of den-site selection at the home range (third order) scale using variables describing topographic, vegetative, and spatially-explicit fish and wildlife models. We hypothesized four main factors influence den-site selection by brown bears: (1) physiography, (2) proximity to food resources, (3) thermal insulation, and (4) den-area fidelity. We used kernel density estimates to define space use and conditional logistic regression to estimate den selection within individual home ranges. Brown bears selected den sites on steep slopes (>31°) with high snow load potential near their previously used den site. Our results supported our hypothesis that den selection by brown bears was related to thermal insulation, structural stability, drainage, and den-area fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a look at the activities in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) as of Fall 2004. Purpose of NPRA; Increase in oil and gas leasing in NPRA during the 1980s and 1990s; Provisions of law that governs petroleum-related activities in NPRA; Changes in the environmental impact statement issued by the Bureau of Land Management for the area.