NCCN Elk LEWI Monitoring Data Package, 2008-2024

This data package contains elk monitoring data collected under the auspices of the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) Inventory and Monitoring Program during 2008-2024 at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI).

The monitoring protocol, publications, and all other associated links can be found in the project reference at: NCCN Monitoring Elk Ground (Lewis and Clark National Historical Park), https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2182083

Monitoring was initiated to track Roosevelt elk seasonal use and visitor viewing opportunities in and around the Fort Clatsop unit of Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI). The preservation of elk herds that frequent LEWI is central to the park’s purpose, “to preserve … the historic, cultural, scenic, and natural resources associated with the arrival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the lower Columbia River area, and … commemorating the culmination and the winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the winter of 1805-1806 …” (Public Law 108-387). Today, elk viewing opportunities in the park and surrounding Clatsop Plains region generate broad appeal with the visiting public. Elk range widely outside of park boundaries where habitat conditions are affected by urbanization, forest management, and agricultural practices, and where populations and behaviors of elk are influenced by hunting patterns, other human disturbance factors, and habitat change. Staff at LEWI have used data generated by elk monitoring to build community partnerships, to highlight regional habitat and land use planning effects on park resources, and to inform regional discussions of policies that may influence the park’s elk population.

The primary monitoring objectives of the protocol are to measure the relative use and proportion of area used by elk during winter in the Fort Clatsop Unit of the park, and the rate at which elk are sighted from roads in and around the Fort Clatsop unit of . Relative use and the proportion of area used by elk are determined from annual elk fecal pellet surveys, wherein pairs of observers visit a systematic array of permanent plots in the fall to clear them of elk fecal pellets, and return to the plots in late winter to count elk fecal pellets that have accumulated during winter. Standardized road surveys are conducted in and near the Fort Clatsop park unit three or four times monthly during alternate months, where two observers drive  four routes to record numbers of elk, location, and composition of each group observed. Data from road surveys are used to provide an index of elk viewing opportunities for park visitors along the selected set of routes.

Tags: astoria, biology, biota, cervid, cervus-elaphus, double-observer, ecological-framework-biological-integrity-focal-species-or-communities-mammals, ecology, elk, habitats, inventory-and-monitoring, lewi, lewis-and-clark-national-historical-park, mammals, monitoring, nccn, north-coast-and-cascades-network, oregon, populations, resource-management, roosevelt-elk, species, surveys, tabular-data, terrestrial-ecosystems, trend, ungulate, vertebrates, warrenton, washington, wildlife
Organization: Department of the Interior