Natural Resource Preservation Program: Population Survey Methods and Spatial and Temporal Use of Park Winter Range by Elk for Adaptive Management to Enhance Wildlife Viewing

Research Task: 8160DAT.2.34
Task Manager: Linda Zeigenfuss

The Elk and Vegetation Management Plan for Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo.)seeks to restore vegetation conditions and the natural range of variation to a regional elk population to support high biodiversity and wildlife viewing opportunities. Large-scale human impacts, including predator elimination and development, have resulted in an elk population that is overabundant, highly concentrated, sedentary, and habituated. As a result, elk herbivory on willow and aspen is significant, which, in turn, is having significant effects on the diversity or organisms that depends on willow and aspen communities. The goal of this project is to enhance and update the methods used to survey elk inhabiting Rocky Mountain National Park and provide more accurate population estimates. Using these tools, FORT scientists seek a more comprehensive understanding of elk use throughout the critical winter period and its natural variation as a function of population size and weather. The primary objectives are to (1) develop population estimates from multiple aerial surveys conducted under differing environmental conditions; (2) analyze the variation in population occurring in the park over time and in response to weather; (3) design and develop field protocols for conducting future surveys; (4) revise and update a sightability correction model fitted to the most current and complete data available, and/or recommend procedures for continuously updating this model through ongoing surveys; and (5) evaluate the accuracy of ground counts in the Estes Valley outside the park and make recommendations for improved survey procedures and analysis methods and models. The resulting information can help park managers maintain target population levels that will reduce potentially long-term negative effects on both the elk herd and its seasonal habitats.

 For more information contact Linda Zeigenfuss

Related Products

Publications

• Effects of conifers and elk browsing on quaking aspen forests in the central Rocky Mountains, USA
• Aspen ecology in Rocky Mountain National Park: Age distribution, genetics, and the effects of elk herbivory