NCCN Monitoring Elk in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park

Cole, Carla; Fermin, Kayla

Detect changes in the magnitude and spatial patterns of elk use in landscapes at several spatial and temporal scales within and adjacent to selected areas of Lewis and Clark NHP. Purpose: The preservation of elk herds that frequent Lewis and Clark NHP is central to the Park’s purpose “to preserve… the historic, cultural, scenic, and natural resources associated with the arrival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the lower Columbia River area, and … commemorating the culmination and the winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the winter of 1805-1806 following its successful crossing of the North American Continent…” (Public Law 108-387). Today, elk viewing opportunities in the Park and surrounding Clatsop Plains region generate broad appeal with the visiting public. Elk range widely outside of park boundaries where habitat conditions are affected by urbanization, forest management and agricultural practices, and where populations and behaviors of elk are influenced by hunting patterns, other human disturbance factors, and habitat change. Staff at Lewis and Clark NHP specifically selected elk monitoring as a useful tool for building community partnerships, highlighting regional habitat and land use planning effects on park resources, and providing leverage in regional discussions of policies that may influence the park’s elk population. Objectives: Measure the relative use and proportion of area used by elk during winter in the Fort Clatsop Unit of the park, and the rate at which elk are sighted from roads in and around the park. Relative use and the proportion of area used by elk are determined from elk fecal pellet surveys conducted every other year in the Fort Clatsop park unit. Pairs of observers visit a systematic array of permanent plots in the fall to clear them of elk fecal pellets, and return to the plots in late winter to count elk fecal pellets that have accumulated during winter. Standardized road surveys are conducted in and near the Fort Clatsop park unit three or four times monthly during alternate months. Data from road surveys are used to quantify the rate that park visitors would be expected to see elk, when driving the selected set of routes. REGARDING items excluded from data collection: No data are collected at systematically identified pellet survey sample points that are unsafe to access or are under water. Road survey routes do not include highways because of safety concerns. REGARDING advice/caveats for potential users of the data set: Trends in elk use within the Fort Clatsop unit are inferred, based on results from pellet surveys, after detection bias is taken into account. Raw pellet counts (counts that have not been corrected to account for detection bias) could be misleading. Detection bias will be analyzed based on results of the double-observer data. Trends in elk use of selected areas adjacent to the Fort Clatsop unit are inferred by monitoring the rate at which elk are sighted in roadside surveys on specified routes. The road survey sighting rate is a direct index to the rate that park visitors driving the selected set of roads would be expected to see elk. Although road surveys are standardized, the road survey sighting rate is not a direct measure of abundance because changes in elk distribution, behavior, or visibility can all influence the rate of elk sightings from roads. Incidental elk observations reported by the public can contribute to the park’s general understanding of elk distribution in the region, and maintaining a system for those observations foster public appreciation for the fact that elk are an important park resource. The number of incidental observations per year is not a measure intended for monitoring trends in elk use, distribution, or abundance. Rather, it was requested by the Park’s management as an indication of public interest and engagement in park resources. This monitoring program is designed to detect gradual declines in

NCCN Monitoring Elk in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park

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