The coastal subspecies of the Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis laingi) has become a focal environmental indicator species in analyses of land-use management plans across the coast of B.C. To assist with management of Northern Goshawk (NOGO) habitat and populations and to facilitate application of the species as an indicator in land-use planning, the NOGO Recovery Team through its Habitat Recovery Implementation Group identified a need for spatially explicit models of habitat and potential territories. Applications for these models include exploring assumptions about the biology of the species, indentifying critical habitat, and inferring potential consequences of landscape change on the species.

Services: Cortex implemented a spatial modeling framework, based on conceptual models of habitat and territory placement provided by the client. This framework was used to test and refine the initial conceptual models, and apply changes to the conceptual models resulting from field verification.

Outcomes: The modeling framework was applied to predict habitat and territory density for the entire coast of B.C. and to project these attributes into the future under different management scenarios on Haida Gwaii. We are continuing active model development in collaboration with the client, including further refinement based on field verification and exploration of options for adding a population modeling component to this framework.