Muskox Monitoring in the Arctic Network of National Park Lands

Hughes, Letty; Miller, Scott

By the middle of the 19th century muskoxen were extirpated from Alaska. Muskoxen were re-established in Alaska in the 1930’s. Currently, viable muskoxen populations occur in four locations in Alaska, two of these ranges overlay National Park units in the Arctic Network. Muskoxen were re-established on the Seward Peninsula, AK and near Cape Krusenstern AK, in the 1970’s. Since their establishment, muskoxen have become are an important subsistence foods for local residents and are highly prized sport hunting resources. Muskoxen tend to occupy small home ranges in comparison to migratory species so are good integrators for local environmental conditions and meta-populations of this species are found throughout the year within the boundaries of the ARCN (e.g., residents). Muskox populations may have substantial effects on plant communities and by extension wildlife communities through effects on vegetation either directly through browsing and grazing or indirectly through biogeochemical cycling. Muskoxen are rare worldwide. Within the U.S. National Park system (NPS), muskoxen only occur in the ARCN. Key reasons for monitoring muskoxen are that muskox are: (1) an important subsistence species that occur in all park units within this network; (2) may impact reindeer and caribou in the ARCN; (3) as an arctic obligate species, area a good integrator of the condition in arctic park ecosystems.

Muskox Monitoring in the Arctic Network of National Park Lands

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