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

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THE NORTHERN RANGE 8 Figure 1.8. Elk killed during the herd reductions of the 1960s were distributed to regional Indian tribes. NPSphoto. comprehensive work (1962-1970) by Barmore, who examined interspecific relationships among the ungulates of the northern range (Barmore 1980). In 1963, Meagher began to study the life history, ecology, and management of bison; her work continues (Meagher 1973, 1976, 1989a, 1989b). From 1970 to 1979, Houston investigated history and ecology of the northern Yellowstone elk winter range (Houston 1982). THE NATURAL REGULATION ERA Houston began his work at a time of dramatic change in National Park Service management philosophy (Wright 1992). Traditional approaches to wildlife husbandry in parks were challenged, and new scientific approaches were emerging. Perhaps the most important event in the changing nature of Yellowstone elk management took place in the early 1960s, when Yellowstone's managers, on the advice of commercial range management authorities (Cooper et a1. 1963), increased the intensity of their elk control and began killing thousands of elk in the park (Figures 1.8-1.13). At the time, consensus among managers and biologists was firmly in support of this action, but public outcry against the killing was so intense that hearings were held on Yellowstone elk management by U.S. Senator McGee (Wyoming) in 1967. Out of these hearings came a cessation of elk slaughter in Yellowstone National Park (and a brief period of intensive trapping and shipping of animals to other areas). Even before the elk reduction crisis reached its well-publicized peak in 1967- 1968, changing views of park resource management had been articulated in the now-famous Leopold Report, the statement of a panel of independent ecologists published in 1963 (Leopold et a1. 1963). This group's work has been subjected to countless reinterpretations over the years. While some see their work as more or less reinforcing traditional policies, others interpret the Leopold Report as a bold new perspective for its time. With its advocacy of a much higher role for science in park management, and its numerous eloquent recommendations for such things as sustaining vignettes of primitive America, and a "reasonable illusion" of a wild system, the Leopold Report was to many minds at the time a revolutionary document, one that influenced Yellowstone's managers as they sought to resolve the apparently endless elk problem. Superintendent Jack Anderson, appointed in 1966, and chief park biologist Glen Cole faced a difficult challenge in the elk management controversy. The public was opposed to killing elk in the park. Many hunters and the surrounding state wildlife-management agencies favored opening the park to hunting. Ranchers near the park wanted elk reduced to prevent range competition with livestock. The National Park Service, legally and traditionally opposed to hunting in parks, resisted continued manipUlation of animal numbers in the park, while the scientific community largely agreed that the elk population must be controlled. The Senate hearings confirmed a strong public disapproval of elk reductions in Yellowstone National Park, but National Park Service leadership still believed they had the option of killing elk, however
HISTORY OF RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT 9 Figure 1.9. Helicopterpilot's view of herding elk into a corral at Daly Creek during elk reductions, 1964. NPSphoto Figure 1.10. Live-captured elk were sorted by sex during preparation Jar translocation to other elk ranges. NPSphoto. Figure 1.11. A "squeeze chute" made it possible to tag and handle captured elk prior to translocation. NPS photo. Figure 1.12. Caplured elk were run through a dip tank to treat them for parasites prior to translocation (1963). NPSphoto. Figure 1.13. Elk killed during reductions were dragged to loading point by a tracked overSllOW "weasel." NPSphoto.
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Page 32 and 33: THE NORTHERN RANGE 16 Northern rang
Page 34 and 35: Figure 2.3. Sum ot rotal annual riv
Page 36 and 37: THE NORTHERN RANGE 20 Figure 2.4 Tr
Page 38 and 39: THE NORTHERN RANGE 22 dendrochronol
Page 40 and 41: THE NORTHERN RANGE 24 Figure 2.7. A
Page 42 and 43: THE NORTHERN RANGE 26 et al. (1991)
Page 44 and 45: THE NORTHERN RANGE 28 earlier time,
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Page 48 and 49: THE NORTHERN RANGE 32 systems-range
Page 50 and 51: THE NORTHERN RANGE 34 indicates the
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Page 56 and 57: THE NORTHERN RANGE showed that graz
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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.
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 58 RESEARCH RECO
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SOIL, EROSION, SEDIMENTS, AND WATER
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SOIL, EROSION, SEDIMENTS, AND WATER
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ated with ungulate winter ranges. T
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ELK POPULATION ISSUES IS YELLOWSTON
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ange grazing issue, Yellowstone man
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ELK POPULATION ISSUES 71 ... Other
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ELK POPULATION ISSUES 73 1996d), so
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ELK POPULATION ISSUES 75 the northe
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ELK POPULATION ISSUES 77 It has evo
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 82 Competition t
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Figure 7.3. Bison winter range. Sin
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THE NORTHERN RANGE Figure 7.7. Envi
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 88 not aware of
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 90 tion size, an
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 92 activity (95
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 94 pursue the su
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 96 factors were
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THE NORTHERN RANGE Figure 7.13. Num
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 102 complex set
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 104 practically
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THE NORTHERN RANGE 106 appear suppr
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AppendixA. Conferences, Meetings, a
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lJO Year Estimate Comment Source 19
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lJ2 , Estimated # of Elk Year Date
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lJ4 Winter Total Count 1967-68 397
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116 Year Date of Count Parkwide Par
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118 Counts and estimates of mule de
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120 Northern Yellowstone winter ran
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122 Population estimates and reduct
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124 Actual count Inside Outside Est
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Pronghorn counted during spring sur
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128 Year 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1
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Ground and aerial counts of bighorn
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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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I I I I I
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