MISSOULA, Mont.—The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation allocated more than one million dollars in funding to further elk-related scientific research in 2019. Those funds leveraged an additional $6.3 million in funding from other partners.
“Our mission to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage would ring rather hollow without the constant infusion of up-to-date scientific research,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer.
So far in 2019, RMEF provided funding for 33 different research projects in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. There are also three projects of national benefit.
Below are a few examples of RMEF’s 2019 research endeavors:
- California – Northern California elk population and recruitment
- Colorado – Impact of increasing human recreation on declining calf recruitment
- Idaho – Elk response to motorized roads & trails
- Montana – Effects of wildfire on elk forage and distribution
- North Carolina – Great Smoky Mountains elk monitoring, connectivity & management
- New Mexico – Effects of Mexican wolves on elk, habitat use
- Oregon – Southern Blue Mountains elk distribution
- South Dakota – Cow elk survival in the Black Hills
- Utah – Factors limiting elk population growth in the Book Cliffs
- Washington – Assist with construction of elk hoof disease research facility
- Wisconsin – Effects of wolves on elk population dynamics
- Wyoming – Determine migration pattern of Targhee elk herd in Greater Yellowstone Area
- National – Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance applied research grant program
“It is imperative that we continue to work with partners on many fronts and in different locations, as we have for years, to gather all the quantified knowledge that we can about issues impacting elk and elk habitat,” added Henning.