Elk monitoring protocol for Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park: January 11, 2012

Griffin, Paul; Jenkins, Kurt; Happe, Patricia; Reid, Mason; Vales, David; Moeller, Barbara; McCorquodale, Scott; Tirhi, Michelle; Boetsch, John; Beirne, Katherine; Schaberl, Jim

Elk (Cervus elaphus) are key components of lowland and montane ecosystems in Mount Rainier (MORA) and Olympic (OLYM) National Parks. During this century of protection, elk populations increased, leading to concerns regarding the effect of elk herbivory and trampling on the health of resources of the parks (temperate rainforests of OLYM and subalpine meadows in MORA). Elk in both parks are influenced by management objectives in adjoining lands including hunting, poaching, predator management, and forest management and land use practices. Disease and climate changie pose other potential threats throughout the region. The protocol describes helicopter-based elk monitoring aerial survey methods. The primary objective is to monitor trends in raw counts, abundance, composition, and spatial distribution of migratory elk using selected trend count areas in summer ranges. Funding from North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) of the National Park Service (NPS) supports these surveys in alternate years. A double-observer sightability model developed for MORA is applied to MORA survey results to correct for detection bias. Additional double-observer sightability data for radio-collared elk will continue to be collected in OLYM summer surveys for 2 to 3 more years, until similar sightability models can be tested for application to OLYM’s summer surveys. The secondary objective is to monitor trends in elk aerial counts and spatial distribution in key OLYM winter and spring ranges. This applies only to OLYM because lowland winter and spring ranges of elk in the Mount Rainier ecosystem are largely outside the park, and OLYM has a history of management concern about elk use of low elevation winter and spring ranges. No NCCN funding is currently available to support this monitoring component; we included it in recognition of the importance of this legacy OLYM monitoring, should supplemental funding become available. The protocol is unique in the NCCN due to agreement between 4 project partners (NPS, two Tribes, and WDFW) to jointly implement and fund monitoring efforts in both parks. These 4 partners work together to conduct summer surveys in MORA; NPS implements the protocol in OLYM. Methods are based on three field seasons of development and testing. The narrative describes the background, rationale, sampling design, field and analytical methods, data management, reporting, personnel requirements, and operational requirements for elk monitoring in MORA and OLYM. The sampling design reflects tradeoffs between statistical and ecological considerations, safety, and budget considerations. For trend count areas that are surveyed every other year, the protocol provides adequate power to detect a doubling or halving of elk use in any single trend count area in eight years. Guidance for planning and completing the monitoring tasks are provided in the standard operating procedures. Protocol results will allow MORA and OLYM managers to detect change in elk abundance and composition in the surveyed subalpine areas and substantial change in elk distribution. Such trends could signal population change that would require research into the cause, management actions, or both. Although the NPS does not actively manage elk outside the parks, harvest regulations set by tribes and WDFW can have direct effects on the number and composition of elk using MORA and OLYM. Results from OLYM will be useful for NPS staff in discussion with tribal and state wildlife managers on the Olympic Peninsula. Results from MORA are shared with other project participants, and are useful for tribal and WDFW elk population management outside park boundaries. Joint tribal, state, and NPS participation in aerial surveys at MORA entails shared responsibility for elk monitoring and a shared interest in managing elk populations to meet the goals of all the interested tribes and agencies.

Elk monitoring protocol for Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park: January 11, 2012

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