Wild Turkey Habitat Modeling

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an important game bird in Kansas, and its widespread distribution has led to Kansas being ranked among the ten best states to hunt wild turkeys. In 2001 the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) and the National Wild Turkey Federation began work on the Kansas Wild Turkey Management Plan. KDWP personnel and biologists were surveyed in 2001 to collect data on known turkey locations throughout the state. The resulting information was processed and entered into a GIS that displayed the Township, Range, and Section of 8,737 known wild turkey locations. The data represented all 105 counties, though 26 counties reported that turkeys were present throughout the county.

The GAP wild turkey habitat map was compared to the known locations and the level of agreement assessed. Results showed good level of agreement, but it was inconsistent across the state. To address the issue of habitat variation, unique logistic regression habitat models were generated for each ecoregion to capture the changes in land cover and habitat preferences of wild turkeys across the state. Habitat suitability models were built that used the proportion of land cover types (from a generalized GAP vegetation map) within known wild turkey locations, then ecoregion specific habitat models were built that used a unique combination of variables and/or coefficients to predict habitat suitability. Results showed a more consistent level of accuracy between ecoregions with an overall accuracy of 72% for the state.

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Wild Turkey Habitat Map	Wild Turkey Habitat Modeling Report.pdf
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