Habitat Selection Scenarios for Molting Waterfowl in the Goose Molting Area of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, for NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (2020)

The dataset consists of a polygon shapefile. Each polygon represents a set of molt units (interconnected lakes used as habitat by molting waterfowl) within the Goose Molting Area of the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area in northern Alaska, in addition to a half-mile or 1-mile wide buffer, that were selected for restrictions on new surface occupancy or infrastructure development by the oil and gas industry. Polygons represent the minimum area necessary to achieve a specific level of population coverage for Pacific Black Brant or Canada Geese that use the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area as molting habitat. All polygons include a 1-mile wide inland buffer along the Beaufort Sea coastline and a 3-mile wide buffer along the shore of Teshekpuk Lake, two areas already identified for surface occupancy/development restrictions by the Bureau of Land Management. Polygons were generated using two buffer widths to reflect uncertainty about the minimum horizontal distance needed to mitigate disturbance effects of industrial activity on molting geese. The boundaries of the Goose Molting Area are defined in the 2013 Record of Decision for the NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan (Bureau of Land Management).