KLUANE: Sheep Habitat Surveys, 2022

A total of 34 sites were surveyed in the Dän Zhùr (Donjek) and Thechàl Dhâl’ (Sheep Mountain) ranges in July 2022. Sites were stratified by an index of relative sheep use generated by analyzing aerial sheep survey data conducted by Parks Canada between 2005 and 2021.

A 25m transect was established at each site, perpendicular to (i.e. across) slope direction, with 1m x 1m survey quadrats positioned every 5m along the transect. This dataset includes measures obtained from within each quadrat at every site. This includes visual estimates of percent cover for six functional plant types as well as measured height of the tallest individual, presence/absence of forage indicator species, and field-scale measures of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI).