Elk

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe: How wildlife will recolonize former Elwha lakebeds

The mouse is measured for length and weight and marked as studied before being released in the former Elwha lake beds. Click on the photo for more pictures at NWIFC's Flickr album.
The mouse is measured for length and weight and marked as studied before being released in the former Elwha lake beds. Click on the photo for more pictures at NWIFC’s Flickr album.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is studying how wildlife might help or hinder growth of new vegetation along the restored Elwha River.

The tribe is watching how small mammals, elk, deer and birds are taking advantage of the newly opened plains of the former lakebeds of lakes Aldwell and Mills, in partnership with Olympic National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey and Western Washington University (WWU).

“We want to see how a whole complement of wildlife species recolonize the reservoirs, and what impacts they have on the re-establishment of plants on reservoir sediments,” said Kim Sager-Fradkin, the tribe’s wildlife biologist.

For the next three years, biologists will study which small mammal species are recolonizing the reservoirs and how their presence might alter revegetation efforts because of their tendency, depending on species, to either cache or consume seeds. (more…)

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Tribes sample elk DNA to track population

Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.
Wildlife biologists from Stillaguamish, Tulalip and Western Washington University sample DNA from elk scat.

Wildlife biologists from the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes are testing a new way to track the population of the Nooksack elk herd using the animals’ scat.

Tribal biologists have partnered with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment to determine the most efficient way to collect DNA from elk scat. Genetic material can be found in the intestinal mucus coating the pellets. This winter, biologists sampled fresh scat using toothpicks and cotton swabs, submitting the samples to a genetics lab to determine which method is most effective at providing an animal’s unique genotype.

“This is a non-invasive method that does not require collaring animals or helicopter time to survey them,” said Stillaguamish biologist Jennifer Sevigny. (more…)

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Upper Skagit Tribe manages elk habitat with Seattle City Light

Upper Skagit biologist Doug Couvelier, right, and timberland services forester Robert Schuyler assess a parcel of Seattle City Light land.

The Upper Skagit Tribe has been contracted to help assess more than 10,000 acres of wildlife habitat that Seattle City Light (SCL) purchased to mitigate for habitat lost due to the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.

As required by the 1991 Wildlife Settlement Agreement among SCL, tribes, and federal and state resource agencies, the public utility has been acquiring property in the Skagit and Nooksack watersheds.

“Acquisition and protection of the South Fork Nooksack River property is a great example of investing in a nearby watershed that has high habitat mitigation value” said Ron Tressler, a wildlife biologist for SCL. South Fork Nooksack land was identified by tribal representatives and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as important habitat for the Nooksack elk herd.

Degraded and disconnected habitat is one of the main causes of the decline in numbers of Nooksack elk, which went from a population of more than 1,700 20 years ago to about 300 by 2003.

Since then, tribal and state co-managers have worked to improve elk habitat in the region. Surveys the last few years have shown that the elk population has rebounded to more than 800 animals, allowing for limited hunting opportunities. (more…)

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Skokomish Tribe, Forest Service collaborate on elk habitat restoration

The Skokomish Tribe and U.S. Forest Service collaborated this fall to plant native trees and shrubs on 30 acres of previously pre-commercially thinned stands in the South Fork of the Skokomish River to improve elk habitat in the Olympic National Forest.

Plants included red elderberry and snowberry bushes and willow and red osier dogwood trees. During the fall of 2009, cuttings of the four species were obtained from the watershed and the plants have been growing for the last year with Sound Native Plants of Olympia, Wash. (more…)

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Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe starts Roosevelt Elk Study

With an interest in the long-term sustainability of elk populations on the north Olympic Peninsula, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has started a three-year research project aimed at gathering baseline data of the elk herds that reside between the Elwha River and Clallam Bay.

The tribe has two key goals: To gather basic ecological information on the Roosevelt elk that live in the Elwha River region prior to deconstruction of the Elwha dams in 2012; And to develop methods for longer-term monitoring of these herds. This will allow the tribe to determine if the elk population is increasing, decreasing, or remaining stable over time.  This study will provide the tribe with information about seasonal elk movement patterns, habitat requirements, and population size and structure. (more…)

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