Yellowstone's Northern Range - Greater Yellowstone Science ...

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Figure 7.3. Bison winter range. Since the early 1980s, bison have learned of potential winter rallges north of the park boundary, leading to a variety of controversial management actions, including public hunting ill the 1980s and capture, test, and slaughter operations more recently. Map by Yellowstolle Spatial Analysis Center alld Yellowstone Center for Resources. r c /"'\ ." ( . ..f .. '-... '. v.-J i .. " / i' .. _ ..( ! i i THE NORTHERN RANGE 84 Northern Winter Range Bison Range ~ 6.2 kin d f-I -(-lO-tl m - i -) --1 / J V J \ , \ '-. '" \., .~. ) evidence offood shortages caused by overgrazing in the park. Meagher (1989a, 1989b, 1996) evaluated these movements and concluded that much of the movements, if not all, are associated with bison learning to use hard-packed snowmobile roads for ingress and egress to the park. The grassland studies cited earlier in this document indicate that the range is not overgrazed. Meagher's observations further indicate that bison "roam" regardless of snow depth or forage availability. Once the migratory habit is learned, as it now is in the northern range bison herd and near the west boundary, the bison will quite naturally be inclined to move to lower elevations in the winter, just as the elk do. The animals shot by hunters or by management agencies after leaving the park in recent years were in good to even excellent condition as judged by body fat; they were not starving for lack of food in the park (K. Aune, Mont. Dept. Fish, Wildl. and Parks., unpubl. data; M. Meagher, U.S. Geol. Surv., pers. commun.) They were moving, as bison moved for millennia prior to the settlement of the west by Europeans. Kirkpatrick et al. (1996) compared bison pregnancy rates of the smaller northern herd with those of the more robust Mary Mountain herd. They concluded that the northern herd, which was considered to be below its ecological carrying capacity (ECC), had higher pregnancy and birth rates than bison in the Mary Mountain area, which was considered to be near or at ECC. This was broadly considered to be physiological evidence of density dependence and natural regUlation in Yellowstone bison. DelGuidice et al. (1994), while not directly addressing the natural regulation question, provided physiological evidence also suggestive of the northern bison herd being below ECC and the Mary Mountain herd being at or near ECC. Bison, unlike elk, deer, moose, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn, have few constituencies to champion their cause on public or private lands outside of Yellowstone Park. As noted above, their population has increased and they have learned
ELK AND OTHER SPECIES 85 Figure 7.4. Park rangers herding bison toward Stephens Creek holding pen inside Yellowstone's north boulldmy, Jallllmy 1997. NPS photo. Figure 7.5 (Far left.) Bison in the holding pens at Stephens Creek, Janllary 1997. NPSphoto. new migratory routes in the process. As a consequence, and with the further complication that some of the animals cany the livestock disease bacteria, Brucella, the management agencies have been compelled to confine bison to the park for most of this century (Figure 7.4 and 7.5). In the cun-ent contention over bison management, a public desire for bison presence in and outside the park (especially on public lands all·eady dedicated to wildlife conservation), is pitted against the purported risk to livestock producers of bison infecting cattle with brucellosis. The Department of the Interior agencies are strongly committed to cun-ent research to increase OUf knowledge about the disease organism in wildlife and its eventual elimination; a task that cannot be done reasonably until an effective vaccine is developed. At the same time, the management agencies and their various constituencies are involved in a number of dialogues, planning processes, and lawsuits in an attempt to find mutually agreeable solutions. MOOSE Monitoring and research on elk, mule deer, pronghorn, bighorns, and moose has been a cooperative interagency effort under the auspices of the Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group (formerly the Northern Yellowstone Elk Working Group) since 1985. Though Schullery and Whittlesey (1992) found tantalizing evidence of moose presence on or near the northern range prior to 1882, Houston believed moose immigrated naturally to the northern range in greater numbers starting about 1913 (Appendix B) (Houston 1982). Moose are heavy users of willows and other riparian vegetation, and if that historical scenario is accurate, then moose entered the northern range picture about the same time riparian vegetation began to decline (Figure 7.6). Northern range moose numbers may have de~lined somewhat since the flres of 1988 because of their suggested dependence on old Figure 7.6. Moose colonized the northern range in numbers beginning early ill the twentieth centll1y. NPS photo.
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YELLOW"STONE'S NORTHERN RANGE COMPL
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 16 Northern rang
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 20 Figure 2.4 Tr
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 22 dendrochronol
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 24 Figure 2.7. A
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 26 et al. (1991)
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 28 earlier time,
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 32 systems-range
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Page 60 and 61: Figure 4.1. Northern range, showing
Page 62 and 63: Figure 4.2. Willow distribution in
Page 64 and 65: THE NORTHERN RANGE 48 Figure 4.4. I
Page 66 and 67: THE NORTHERN RANGE 50 public lands,
Page 68 and 69: THE NORTIlERN RANGE 52 Figure 4.5.
Page 70 and 71: THE NORTHERN RANGE 54 able uncertai
Page 72 and 73: THE NORTHERN RANGE 56 to confirm an
Page 74: THE NORTHERN RANGE 58 RESEARCH RECO
Page 77 and 78: SOIL, EROSION, SEDIMENTS, AND WATER
Page 79 and 80: SOIL, EROSION, SEDIMENTS, AND WATER
Page 81 and 82: ated with ungulate winter ranges. T
Page 83 and 84: ELK POPULATION ISSUES IS YELLOWSTON
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Page 87 and 88: ELK POPULATION ISSUES 71 ... Other
Page 89 and 90: ELK POPULATION ISSUES 73 1996d), so
Page 91 and 92: ELK POPULATION ISSUES 75 the northe
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Page 98 and 99: THE NORTHERN RANGE 82 Competition t
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Page 106 and 107: THE NORTHERN RANGE 90 tion size, an
Page 108 and 109: THE NORTHERN RANGE 92 activity (95
Page 110 and 111: THE NORTHERN RANGE 94 pursue the su
Page 112 and 113: THE NORTHERN RANGE 96 factors were
Page 114 and 115: THE NORTHERN RANGE Figure 7.13. Num
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Page 118 and 119: THE NORTHERN RANGE 102 complex set
Page 120 and 121: THE NORTHERN RANGE 104 practically
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Page 124 and 125: AppendixA. Conferences, Meetings, a
Page 126 and 127: lJO Year Estimate Comment Source 19
Page 128 and 129: lJ2 , Estimated # of Elk Year Date
Page 130 and 131: lJ4 Winter Total Count 1967-68 397
Page 132 and 133: 116 Year Date of Count Parkwide Par
Page 134 and 135: 118 Counts and estimates of mule de
Page 136 and 137: 120 Northern Yellowstone winter ran
Page 138 and 139: 122 Population estimates and reduct
Page 140 and 141: 124 Actual count Inside Outside Est
Page 142 and 143: Pronghorn counted during spring sur
Page 144 and 145: 128 Year 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1
Page 146 and 147: Ground and aerial counts of bighorn
Page 148 and 149: REFERENCE LIST NOTES ON THIS REFERE
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Pages 199-210 in Carbyn, L.N., S.H.
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Yellowstone National Park. Technica
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mammal mortality in the 1988 Yellow
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National Park. International Journa
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Mehus, C.A. 1995. Influences ofbraw
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__ , and __ . 1996a. Preburn root b
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Pages 127-138 in F.J. Singer, ed. E
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some northern Yellowstone elk. M.S.
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