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 Back to Chapter 2:Science-Based Management Articles Lynx inventories under way in the Intermountain Region By Laura Hudson Inventories yield large benefits for Devils Postpile National Monument By Linda Mutch Carl Sandburg Home: Biodiversity in a small park By Anne Ulinski New report on air quality in California Class I national parks By Annie Esperanza and Judy Rocchio Assessing potential social consequences of deer management in Cuyahoga Valley By Kevin L. Skerl “Flightlines”: Developing partnerships for migratory bird conservation in the North Cascades By Robert C. Kuntz II USGS science supports NPS in managing park resources By John Dennis, Sharon Kliwinski, and Lindsay McClelland Other Developments USGS science helps protect Congaree Swamp Effects of snowmobiles on wildlife MGM2: Economic analysis for park-community planning Process emerges for park vital signs water quality monitoring Award-winner profiles - Weber and Finley honored for science-based management efforts Technology in monitoring - Knowing where the falcons go |
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 Ungulate management Tule elk at Point Reyes Since 2000, staff of Point Reyes National Seashore, California, have administered contraceptives to more than 40 tule elk in the Tomales Point elk reserve in the national seashore. Initially developed as a research project by endocrinologists at the University of California, Davis, contraception was explored by managers at the national seashore because of growing concern that an expanding elk population would negatively impact vegetation and rare plant and butterfly populations in the fenced 2,600-acre range. The vaccine, porcine Zona Pellucida (pZP), is effective in preventing pregnancy in over 70% of inoculated animals for one year. Boosters, delivered by dart with a dart rifle, must be administered yearly before the onset of mating season. Treated animals, identifiable by radio-transmitter collars, are stalked by the darter on foot, who uses a horse and rider as a screen to approach within 130 feet of the elk. Far from being the easy procedure portrayed by the media, remote contraceptive inoculation is an arduous, time-intensive process for the darter and can occasionally cause injury to elk. The fall 2001 elk census indicated a population of more than 400 animals with 13 calves prevented last year. The results of a year-round elk monitoring program will allow managers to determine whether immunocontraception of tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore is indeed the most practical and effective method to control the size of this free-ranging ungulate population. In addition to managing elk in the reserve, park staff monitor the progress of a free-ranging herd of tule elk in the national seashore. The release of 28 elk in June 1999—the first free-ranging elk at Point Reyes National Seashore in 130 years—marked the restoration of a dominant herbivore to the coastal ecosystem. Founders of this new herd were relocated from the Tomales Point elk reserve, quarantined before their release, and rigorously tested for Johne’s disease, a chronic and fatal disease of livestock. Two years after their release, the population hovers at 25 animals, with six calves born in 2001. Seashore managers will continue to monitor the new herd for disease and population growth over the next few years. The release has enjoyed widespread support from the visiting public and local community alike. |
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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--2001, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 2001 (publication D-2255) /YearInReview/yir/yir2001/02_management/02_od5_tule.html Last Updated: |