Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2014
Happe PJ, Vales DJ, Moeller BJ, Tirhi M, Holman E, Beirne K. 2015. Mount Rainier National Park and Olympic National Park elk monitoring program annual report 2014. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NCCN/NRDS—2015/779. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Fiscal year 2014 was the fourth year of implementing an approved elk monitoring protocol (Griffin et al. 2012) in Mount Rainier (MORA) and Olympic (OLYM) National Parks in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN). However, it was the seventh and fifth year of gathering data according to protocol in MORA and OLYM respectively; data gathered during the protocol development phase followed procedures described in the protocol. Elk monitoring in these large wilderness parks relies on aerial surveys from a helicopter (Figure 1). Summer surveys are intended to provide quantitative estimates of abundance, sex and age composition, and distribution of migratory elk in high elevation trend count areas. The number of missed elk during aerial surveys may be estimated by applying site-specific models that account for detection bias (Griffin et al. 2012). Detection bias for elk surveys in MORA and OLYM was estimated using a model developed from survey data collected from 2008-2010 in MORA and 2009-2013 in OLYM (Lubow et al. 2015). In MORA we developed the model based on observations of elk that were previously equipped with radio collars by cooperating tribes. At the onset of protocol development in OLYM there were no radio-collars on elk. Consequently the majority of the effort in OLYM from 2008-2011 was focused on capturing and radio-collaring elk and conducting sightability trials needed to develop a detection bias model for OLYM. Data collection for the model was completed in 2013, and a new model that integrates data for both parks was developed in 2014 and is used in this report (Lubow et al. 2015). At MORA the South trend count unit was surveyed twice and the North unit was surveyed once. We counted 339 and 399 elk during the replicate surveys of the South Rainier trend count area, and 468 elk in the North Rainier trend count area. Using the model to correct for detection bias, we estimated that 512 and 545 elk were in the South trend count area, and 672 elk were in the North trend count area at the time of the respective surveys. Three trend count areas at OLYM - the Core, Quinault, and Elwha - were surveyed completely. We counted 116 elk in the Core, 43 in the Elwha and 207 in the Quinault. Using the model to correct for detection bias, we estimated that 174 elk were in the Core, 143 in the Elwha, and 246 in the Quinault trend count areas at the time of the respective surveys.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Happe, Patricia; Vales, David; Moeller, Barbara; Tirhi, Michelle; Holman, Eric; Beirne, Katherine
- Date of Issue
- 2015-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MORA , NRSS , OLYM
- Keywords
- Abundance, Aerial Survey, annual report, Cervus elaphus nelsoni, Cervus elaphus roosevelti, Composition, detection bias, Distribution, Elk Monitoring, Elwha, Helicopter, High Elevation, Hoh, migratory, Monitoring, Mount Rainier National Park, NCCN, North Coast and Cascades Network, North Rainier, North Rainier herd, Olympic National Park, population trend counts, Queets, Quinault, Radio Collar, resident, Rocky Mountain Elk, Roosevelt Elk, sightability model, South Rainier, South Rainier herd, summer range, trend count, Winter Range
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals