DOI: 10.5061/dryad.98sf7m0rx
title: Managing Human-Wildlife Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground Closure in Teton County

description: Teton County in Western Wyoming is home to large working landscapes, a
 national park, and the nation’s largest elk herd, the Jackson herd. It is
 also one of the few places in the Western United States that still
 operates elk feedgrounds, where the artificial feeding of these large
 mammals has resulted in high density populations over small areas, leading
 to increased disease transmission and prevalence. A disease of primary
 concern is brucellosis (Brucella abortus) which can be transmitted from
 elk to cattle and result in financial burdens for ranchers through
 quarantine, depopulation, reduced milk production, or calf abortions. This
 project aimed to better understand the complex social and ecological
 dynamics of elk feedgrounds in order to assess the feasibility of
 implementing financial tools that would mitigate the effects of disease
 transmission and wildlife presence risks of a simulated feedground
 closure. Our goal is to help improve human-wildlife coexistence on
 Wyoming’s private and public lands. To accomplish this, we completed a
 Public Comment Sentiment Analysis, a Jackson Herd Habitat Connectivity
 Model, a Brucellosis Transmission Risk Model, and an Analysis of Financial
 Repercussions of Feedground Closure. These methods resulted in the
 assessment of two financial tools, a brucellosis compensation fund and an
 elk rent program, which we recommend to be implemented in Teton County.
 This project will serve to better inform the Property and Environment
 Research Center on potential methods for improving human-wildlife
 interactions and coexistence in Teton County through the understanding of
 where elk move on private lands, transmission of disease from elk to
 cattle, and the impacts that the cessation of feeding could cause on
 subsequent stakeholders, specifically the financial implications for
 ranchers.
description: From the larger project, this dataset primarily contains the data
 and metadata associated with the habitat connectivity model and the forage
 competition calculations. For additional data, metadata, and code
 associated with the other parts of the project, see the linked GitHub
 repository under "Related Works." More detailed methods can be
 found in the main report, also linked here.  The main
 objective of creating a habitat connectivity model for the Jackson herd
 was to understand where the elk might disperse across the landscape if
 feeding on the National Elk Refuge (NER) ceases. This informed multiple
 aspects of our project, such as areas of potential overlap of elk and
 cattle for the brucellosis risk transmission model and locations of forage
 competition for the financial analysis. Analyzing where elk may relocate
 highlights places of management priority, particularly areas where
 conservation can be improved and stakeholder costs and human-wildlife
 conflict can be mitigated. To build habitat connectivity models for the
 Jackson herd, we created resistance rasters, which are a combination of
 multiple data layers that are important to elk biology with assigned
 values of resistance, or the cost of traversing each pixel of the
 landscape. The resistance rasters consisted of roads (including primary,
 secondary, trails, service drives, and private roads), conservation
 easements (ranked based on protection level), protected areas (also ranked
 based on protection level), oil and gas fields and wells, grazing
 allotments, elevation, and land use (vegetation and waterways as well as
 human development). The habitat connectivity resistance rasters were
 composed of layers built from 2011-2024. These raster layers were selected
 based on expert consultation of what most influences elk movement and
 biology as well as previous studies that have modeled movement for similar
 species like mule deer or for elk in different parts of the country.
 Similarly, resistance values were selected based on how the herd will
 utilize the land in winter conditions and were further informed by
 previous literature, expert opinion, or a combination of the
 two.  After resistance rasters were created, they were
 used to analyze how elk movement would change due to the simulated cease
 of feeding on the NER during winter conditions. By using the Circuitscape
 Linkage Mapper tool in the Linkage Pathways toolbox within ArcGIS Pro, we
 analyzed the least-cost paths that elk will take to move from multiple elk
 crucial ranges to new habitats. In addition, the Pinchpoint Mapper tool
 identified areas of increased resistance that elk may face due to changes
 in the landscape. Results from the habitat connectivity
 model were used to calculate forage competition costs (the costs of hay
 consumed by elk from haystacks found on private land during the winter
 months) for ranches in Teton County under a simulated feedground closure
 scenario. Pinchpoints from the high resistance simulation were used to
 identify three different types of elk winter habitat: prime, average, and
 subpar. Identifying those habitat types allowed us to predict where the
 elk are most likely to migrate and how much of their winter range includes
 private land.
description: This `README.md` file was generated on 2024-05-07 by Justine Lang ##
 GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title of the Project: Managing Human-Wildlife
 Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground
 Closure in Teton County 2. Author Information A. Primary Contact
 Information Name: Justine Lang; Role: Data Manager; Institution: Bren
 School of Environmental Science & Management, University of
 California, Santa Barbara; Email:
 [justinelang@bren.ucsb.edu](mailto:justinelang@bren.ucsb.edu) B. Alternate
 Contact Information Name: Katherine Aristi; Role: Project Manager;
 Institution: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management,
 University of California, Santa Barbara; Email:
 [katherinearisti@bren.ucsb.edu](mailto:katherinearisti@bren.ucsb.edu)
 Name: Delores Chan; Role: Communications Manager; Institution: Bren School
 of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa
 Barbara; Email:
 [deloreschan@bren.ucsb.edu](mailto:deloreschan@bren.ucsb.edu) Name: Samuel
 Desre; Role: Financial Manager; Institution: Bren School of Environmental
 Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara; Email:
 [samueldesre@bren.ucsb.edu](mailto:samueldesre@bren.ucsb.edu) 1. Date of
 data collection: 2023-04-03 - 2024-03-22 2. Geographic location of data
 collection: Teton County, WY and the broader Greater Yellowstone
 Ecosystem, USA 3. Information about funding sources that supported the
 collection of the data: No funding was acquired. ## SHARING/ACCESS
 INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: No restrictions
 are placed on the data generated by the project. For original data sources
 and raw data where restrictions do exist, citations, links, and contact
 information are provided to allow for access and replication. All final
 products and data produced by this project are archived in the public
 domain under the license CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain
 Dedication. 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Aristi,
 K., Chan, D, Lang, J., & Desre, S. (2024). Managing Human-Wildlife
 Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground
 Closure in Teton County [Master’s Thesis Equivalent, Bren School of
 Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa
 Barbara].
 [https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/managing-human-wildlife-interactions-ecological-and-financial-assessment-elk-feedground](https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/managing-human-wildlife-interactions-ecological-and-financial-assessment-elk-feedground) 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: Related data and code used in this project are located in the project GitHub repository: [https://github.com/justinelang/elkentourage_gp](https://github.com/justinelang/elkentourage_gp) 4. Was data derived from another source? If yes, list source(s): Resistance rasters and core habitat areas were derived from numerous sources, listed below. While not every file could be archived with this project, links are included to facilitate access. Data name: National Elk Refuge File name: FWSInterestSimplified.shp Published: 2018 Source: US National Park Service Link: [https://koordinates.com/layer/13554-us-national-elk-refuge/](https://koordinates.com/layer/13554-us-national-elk-refuge/) Data name: Roads File name: tl_2023_56001.shp to tl_2023_56045.shp Published: 2023 Source: United States Census Bureau Link: [https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2023/](https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2023/) Data name: Conservation Easements File name: NCED_Polygons_07282023/.shp Published: 2023 Source: National Conservation Easement Database Link: [https://www.conservationeasement.us/login/](https://www.conservationeasement.us/login/) Data name: Protected Areas File name: PADUS2_1WDPASchemaMetadataV1_1.shp Published: 2021 Source: U.S. Geological Survey Link: [https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/602ffe50d34eb1203115c7ab](https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/602ffe50d34eb1203115c7ab) Data name: Oil and Gas File name: WGSG_OilGas_Fields2023_AllAttributes.shp Published: 2023 Source: Wyoming State Geological Survey Link: [https://portal.wsgs.wyo.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d42f571b87fa4234b03d66ca7ae311a4](https://portal.wsgs.wyo.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d42f571b87fa4234b03d66ca7ae311a4) Data name: Grazing Allotments File name: BLM_Natl_Grazing_Allotment_Polygons.shp Published: 2024 Source: Bureau of Land Management Link: [https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/0882acf7eada4b3bafee4dd673fbe8a0/explore](https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/0882acf7eada4b3bafee4dd673fbe8a0/explore) Data name: Elevation File name: usgs_merged_30m.tif Published: 2011 Source: U.S. Geological Survey Link: [https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4a92e4b07f02db6572c2](https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4a92e4b07f02db6572c2) Data name: Land Use File name: nlcd_wy_utm13.tif Published: 2021 Source: National Land Cover Database Link: [https://www.mrlc.gov/data?f%5B0%5D=category%3ALand%20Cover&f%5B1%5D=year%3A2021](https://www.mrlc.gov/data?f%5B0%5D=category%3ALand%20Cover&f%5B1%5D=year%3A2021) Data name: Jackson Zoning File name: toj_zoning.shp Published: 2020 Source: Teton County GIS Hub Link: [https://gis.tetoncountywy.gov/portal/apps/sites/#/teton-county-gis-hub](https://gis.tetoncountywy.gov/portal/apps/sites/#/teton-county-gis-hub) Data name: Elk Crucial Ranges File name: ElkCrucialRange.shp Published: 2018 Source: Wyoming Game and Fish Department Link: [https://wyoming-wgfd.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ade74a3eb73448dcbd811e398d3669f3_0/explore](https://wyoming-wgfd.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/ade74a3eb73448dcbd811e398d3669f3_0/explore) Data name: Jackson Herd Migrations File name: Elk_WY_Jackson_Routes_Ver1_2019.shp Published: 2019 Source: U.S. Geological Survey Link: [https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:5f8db61982ce32418791d56d](https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/data/USGS:5f8db61982ce32418791d56d) Data name: Feedground Locations File name: FWSInterest_Simplified.shp Published: 2011 Source: Wyoming Game and Fish Department Link: [https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4ae0e4b07f02db68816a](https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/4f4e4ae0e4b07f02db68816a) Data name: Wyoming Counties File name: GU_CountyOrEquivalent.shp Published: 2024 Source: U.S. Geological Survey Link: [https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/59fa9f67e4b0531197affb79](https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/59fa9f67e4b0531197affb79) Data name: Wyoming Land Ownership Parcels File name: Wyoming_Parcels.shp Published: 2022 Source: Wyoming Link: N/A 1. Recommended citation for the project: Lang, J., Aristi, K., Chan, D., & Desre, S. (2024). Managing Human-Wildlife Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground Closure in Teton County [Dataset]. Dryad. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.98sf7m0rx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.98sf7m0rx) ## DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: A. Habitat Connectivity: Data name: Low Resistance Raster File name: lowresblend.tif Description: elk habitat connectivity resistance raster with low resistance values Data name: Medium Resistance Raster File name: medresblend.tif Description: elk habitat connectivity resistance raster with medium resistance values Data name: High Resistance Raster File name: highresblend.tif Description: elk habitat connectivity resistance raster with high resistance values Data name: Low Resistance Least-Cost Paths/Pinchpoints File name: lowres_lcp_pp.zip Description: least-cost paths and pinchpoint shapefiles generated from running the low resistance raster in Circuitscape Data name: Medium Resistance Least-Cost Paths/Pinchpoints File name: medres_lcp_pp.zip Description: least-cost paths and pinchpoint shapefiles generated from running the medium resistance raster in Circuitscape Data name: High Resistance Least-Cost Paths/Pinchpoints File name: highresblend_lcp_pp.zip Description: least-cost paths and pinchpoint shapefiles generated from running the high resistance raster in Circuitscape B. Forage Competition: Data name: Subpar Habitat File name: fc_subpar_habitat.zip Description: shapefile of Jackson elk herd habitat of subpar quality Data name: Average Habitat File name: fc_avg_habitat.zip Description: shapefile of Jackson elk herd habitat of average quality Data name: Prime Habitat File name: fc_prime_habitat.zip Description: shapefile of Jackson elk herd habitat of prime quality Data name: Public Land File name: public_data.zip Description: shapefile of public land in Teton County near the National Elk Refuge Data name: Private Land File name: private_data.zip Description: shapefile of private land in Teton County near the National Elk Refuge 1. Relationship between files, if important: * Least-cost paths and pinchpoints were created from the resistance rasters. * The elk habitat quality shapefiles were overlaid on the public and private land shapefiles to calculate forage competition between elk and cattle. 1. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: For additional data, metadata, and code, see the project GitHub repository: [https://github.com/justinelang/elkentourage_gp](https://github.com/justinelang/elkentourage_gp) ## METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: All data were gathered from an extensive literature and web search. See the sources listed above. 2. Methods for processing the data: A. Habitat Connectivity Methods for producing the low, medium, and high resistance rasters, least-cost paths, and pinchpoints are described in detail in Appendix 2 of the associated report. For step-by-step instructions for creating the rasters in ArcGIS Pro and running the habitat connectivity model in Circuitscape, see [https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/managing-human-wildlife-interactions-ecological-and-financial-assessment-elk-feedground](https://bren.ucsb.edu/projects/managing-human-wildlife-interactions-ecological-and-financial-assessment-elk-feedground) B. Forage Competition By using the high resistance raster created in the habitat connectivity model, we zoomed into the area surrounding Jackson Hole and outside of the National Elk Refuge. By using the ‘Select Features’ tool, this raster was clipped to the area that we wanted to calculate forage competition. We then loaded the public and private lands data into the map and used the ‘Clip Layer’ tool to make it the same size as the high resistance raster. Each layer in the high resistance raster was then categorized into the three habitat types identified for the forage competition calculations: subpar, average, and prime. This was done by right clicking on the layer and choosing ‘Symbology’ and then changing the number of classification groups to three. The area of each habitat type was then calculated by going into the layers attribute table and choosing the calculator which would find the area of each in km2. The private and public land layer was then separated into land that was public or private by using the ‘Select Features’ tool. Once these were into their own layer types, the total areas of each one were calculated in the same way as was done for habitat types. With the areas of each habitat and land use type, we were able to use the forage competition calculations to determine how much of each habitat type was overlaid with private or public land and determine the costs of forage competition. 1. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: * ESRI. (2021). ArcGIS Pro (Version 2.9.5) [Software]. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute * McRae B, Shah V. 2009. Circuitscape User Guide. University of California, Santa Barbara. Available from: [https://www.circuitscape.org](https://www.circuitscape.org) * McRae BH, Kavanagh DM. 2011. Linkage Mapper Connectivity Analysis Software. The Nature Conservancy, Seattle, WA. Available from [https://linkagemapper.org](https://linkagemapper.org). * McRae BH. 2012a. Pinchpoint Mapper Connectivity Analysis Software. The Nature Conservancy, Seattle, WA. Available from [https://linkagemapper.org](https://linkagemapper.org) 1. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Katherine Aristi, Delores Chan, Justine Lang, and Samuel Desre