Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou ) populations in Jasper (JNP) and Banff National Parks (BNP) are small and declining. Absence of recent fire has been suggested to have detrimentally affected terrestrial lichens, the main forage of caribou. I examined winter habitat selection by woodland caribou at multiple scales and used models including stand origin, topography, and stand structure data to explore relationships among caribou, lichen, and fire history. At a coarse scale, caribou selected old forest (>75 years) in landscapes that burned less frequently, whereas the abundance of Cladonia spp. influenced caribou selection at fine scales. Lichen occurrence models suggested Cladonia established sufficient abundance to attract caribou after 75 years. Abundance of arboreal lichens required the presence of older trees (>150yrs), but abundant arboreal lichens could be retained following low-severity fires. Caribou ranges in JNP and BNP are predicted to be negatively affected for at least 75 years following fire.

objectives of this research were to develop alternate approaches to scale effective leaf area index (LAIe) and rainfall interception storage capacity (S) over time and space using broadly available stand metrics for lodgepole pine in West-Central Alberta. Stand LAIe ranged from 0.03-4.24 (m 2 /m2 ) and was very strongly related to total annual stand volume growth across study sites (r2 =0.83, p<0.001) suggesting broadly available forest growth data can to used to predict changes in LAIe as stands develop and age. Canopy rainfall interception losses accounted for 23-37% of total growing season rainfall and contrary to expectation, LAIe was a very poor predictor of S. However, because rainfall stored by boles probably played a larger role in interception than leaf area, total stand volume was a strong predictor of S (r 2 =0.90, p=0.012). This work also shows that stemflow should not be neglected in interception studies as has been suggested by others.