Great Plains                                    
    Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

Description:  Elk management is presently the most contentious resource issue at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the focus of an EIS in preparation.   Our data describing the population dynamics, movements, distribution, and diets of elk are providing key support.  However, existing descriptions of the landscape are relatively coarse and will not fully support efforts to 1) develop protocols for monitoring impacts of elk or 2) predict incidental effects of land management actions.  A sound monitoring program will be fundamental to any defense of elk management objectives, so this shortcoming defines a critical information need.  We propose to develop and implement an efficient strategy of sampling range vegetation and landscape features, then develop spatial models that couple maps of elk activity with landscape data.  Our results will satisfy the critical need for an understanding of elk resource selection.  More generally, they will represent a significant advance in methodology used to study wildlife distributions in national parks.

Dr. Glen Sargeant, U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
Michael Oehler, Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

FY 2007-2009, $170,092