NCCN Monitoring Elk in Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks
Happe P, Jenkins K, Terwilliger M . NCCN Monitoring Elk in Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks. 2007-2017. National Park Service
This project was established to monitor trends in raw counts, abundance, composition, and spatial distribution of migratory elk, Cervus elaphus, in Mount Rainier National Park and in Olympic National Park. This monitoring program is being conducted in cooperation with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Survey procedures are helicopter aerial survey based. Purpose: Elk are important agents of ecological change within park ecosystems, reliable information on trends is needed to interpret changes in the health of park ecosystems. Over several decades, there has been recurrent controversy regarding potential ecological effects of overabundant elk on ecological integrity of subalpine meadows in MORA and of lowland rainforest communities in OLYM. Land use, hunting, and predator management programs on lands adjacent to these parks have the potential to influence elk population trends and ecosystem properties within the Parks. Also, the increased prevalence of wildlife diseases (e.g., chronic wasting disease, paratuberculosis, brucellosis) is a growing potential concern. Objectives are to 1) Monitor trends in elk abundance, distribution, and composition in selected subalpine summer ranges in MORA and OLYM, and 2) Monitor trends in elk abundance and distribution in selected low-elevation winter ranges in OLYM. For summer surveys, we will monitor trends in the estimated abundance, spatial distribution, bull:cow ratio and cow:calf ratio of elk present in selected subalpine trend count areas during late summer. The surveys will be conducted from helicopter between 15 August-15 September each year. Summer surveys at MORA are jointly supported by NPS, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Summer trend count areas correspond with major summer ranges of elk in each park, and include open subalpine vegetation; they have been defined by a combination of elevation and forest canopy cover. To adjust for detection biases, raw counts of elk will be converted to abundance estimates through the use of group-specific weighting. The expected value of the weighting factor for each group will come from a sightability model parameterized to account for variation in detection probability due to covariates such as group size, vegetative cover, or other covariates.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Happe, Patti; Jenkins, Kurt; Terwilliger, Miranda
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MORA , OLYM
- Keywords
- Aerial Survey, Biology, Biota, Cervus, Cervus elaphus, Cervus elaphus nelsoni, Cervus elaphus roosevelti, double observer model, Elk, Helicopter Survey, I&M, Inventory And Monitoring, Monitoring, MORA, Mount Rainier National Park, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, NCCN, North Coast Cascades Network, OLYM, Olympic National Park, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Resource Management, Roosevelt Elk, sightability model, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington State, Wildlife
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals
Program
Products
- A hybrid double-observer sightability model for aerial surveys
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2010
- Elk monitoring protocol for Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park: January 11, 2012
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2011
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2012
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2013
- Elk monitoring in Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks: 2008-2011 synthesis report
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2014
- Double-observer Sightability Model Update for Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks, 2014
- NCCN Elk Aerial Monitoring Sample Design Geodatabase
- Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2015
- Elk monitoring in Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks: 2008 ‒ 2017 synthesis report
- NCCN Elk Aerial Monitoring Data Package, 2008-2017