Elk response to the La Mesa fire and current status in the Jemez Mountains

Product Type: Report, Pages In

Year: 1996

Author(s): Allen, C.D

Suggested Citation:
Allen, C.D. 1996. Elk response to the La Mesa fire and current status in the Jemez Mountains. In: C.D. Allen (ed.). Fire effects in southwestern forests: Proceedings of the second La Mesa Fire symposium; 1994 March 29-31; Los Alamos, New Mexico. General Technical Report RM-GTR-286. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. 179-195 p.

Abstract

Faunal remains in local archeological sites and historic information suggest that elk populations in the Jemez Mountains were low from ca. 1200 A.D. though ca. 1900 A.D., when they were extirpated from this region. Elk were reintroduced to the Jemez country in 1948 and 1964-1965, and their population apparently grew exponentially, reaching 1000 animals in the 1970’s and about 7000 by 1991…