SALMON RIVER MOOSE CENSUS-NOVEMBER 1995

Shults, Brad; Schnorr, John

Moose management in Unit 23 has been a high priority issue for land managers since Unit 23 moose populations declined following two consecutive severe winters in 1990 and 1991. The area within Kobuk Valley National Park (KVNP) is closed to sport hunting. Most local harvest occurs close to local villages such as Kiana, Noorvik, and Ambler or along the Kobuk River corridor via boat and snow machine access. At any rate, harvest is assumed to play a minor role in limiting moose abundance in this area. With this in mind, monitoring this population will provide data that serve as a comparison for more heavily harvested drainages within northwestern Alaska such as the Noatak, Squirrel, and Tagagawik Rivers. The latter areas have been delineated into long-termquantitative monitoring sites for moose abundance. Since only trend counts had been conducted in the Middle Kobuk River valley, a census area was delineated subjectively to meet the objectives of a logistically feasible and cost effective census area that could be surveyed every 2-3 years to obtain statistically valid composition and abundance estimates. Wechose a survey area encompassing the eastern side of the Kallarichuk Hills, Salmon River, Tutuksuk River, and Kobuk River (Fig. 1). As with the western portion of the middle Noatak River census area, we selected an area small enough to complete a census using local agency personnel, agency aircraft/pilots, and local charter operators within the constraints of limited fall daylight and favorable weather.

SALMON RIVER MOOSE CENSUS-NOVEMBER 1995

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