Wildlife wanted: Elk Management Group makes a home for Valley elk herd

Car collisions have killed at least 12 elk in the Valley and on nearby Interstate-90 already this year, but a recent census suggests the population of the resident herd is thriving. And calving time is almost here.

“They have their calves in June,” says Harold Erland, bouncing his truck up a rough DNR road on the way to one of the Upper Snoqualmie Valey Elk Management Group’s (http://snoqualmievalleyelk.org) projects. “But on the Valley floor, they could have them all year.”

Erland was among the volunteers with the elk group who last month completed a census, of sorts, counting only the collared elk they spotted for 10 days in late March and early April. They collar elk from mid-July to mid-April, stopping well in advance of calving season, to minimize their effect on calving season. From the data sent by the radio collars and the actual counts of volunteers, analyst Phil Cassady has calculated a population of more than 500, with a possible range of 449 to 591 at a 95 percent confidence interval.

It’s the largest population calculated in the past five years; the estimate was just under 450 in 2014, 2012 and 2011. In 2013, the number was almost 500.

The work of the elk group is contributing, at least in part, to the population growth. Such projects include fencing along Interstate 90 between exits 27 and 31, which is linked to fewer elk being hit by cars on the highway. Since volunteers repaired a gap in the fence last year, with Highway Department-donated materials, the number of car-caused elk deaths has dropped. Erland said the group hopes to win a grant to extend the fence, from exit 32 to 38 in the future.

The group also takes on the gruesome task of studying dead elk. They harvest a tooth for aging and the antlers to prevent theft and they examine the animal’s condition and diet. Studying elk is how they confirmed suspicions that “young elk die on the freeway,” Erland said.

Another, related project, is the work done over the past three years to clear 37 acres of habitat on DNR land up the Mount Si Road where a small herd of elk seems to spend its entire life. It’s called the CCC Flats, for the Civilian Conservation Corps camps that were there decades ago.

As he drives to the area, Erland is listening to a radio handset for beeps from Rose’s tracking collar.

“Rose lives right here on the Mount Si Road,” said Erland. “She goes as far as the stables, and as far as the CCC Flats.”

She’s close enough to beep, but not close enough to see today. Besides, it’s early afternoon and she’s probably napping somewhere safe; elk are most active at dawn and dusk.

The land, we drive through on the way to the CCC Flats is a mix of natural forest and dense “managed forest,” originally planted for a future timber harvest. The Flats are now dotted with long, narrow grassy tracks, or “linear meadows,” that allow elk, deer and other wildlife easier access to forage, and quick returns to the safety of the woods.

Large trees, mainly Douglas fir, alder and cedars, were torn out to clear the meadows and grasses were planted, creating foraging spots for many types of wildlife.

“There’s a lot of good habitat here,” said Erland, walking down one of the meadows. “This is the habitat we created, and the animals love it.”

He points out two-foot cedars, their new growth all nibbled away, and sallal bushes in similar condition, as evidence that the animals are using the spaces. Erland said the grass also attracts bears, which, like most animals, are lazy and will take an easy meal over one that requires some work. Since the creation of the meadow spaces, he said, he’s seen fewer trees killed by bears searching for their first meal in the spring; they rip sections of bark off to get to the nutritious cambium layer in the wood.

Reducing mortality is part of the elk management equation, but so is hunting. A limited number of hunting permits are issued for elk each year, for general hunters, using bows or muzzle-loading guns.

State-certified master hunters in the elk management group are permitted to kill elk on private property, with both the property owner’s permission and the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s. Only females are hunted.

“If we didn’t take them, the elk would be in trouble, because there’d be too many of them,” Erland said. Some would starve because of over-grazing and others, weakened from hunger, would die of disease.

Through the group’s ongoing work to track the elk and collar new females, they are getting a detailed picture of the life and habits of the local herd and sub-herds. To collar the elk, the use traps, luring the animals into cages with food. When they eat the food, the gate is triggered.

“Then we have a little rodeo,” Erland joked. Actually, volunteers throw a blanket over the elk’s head, which helps to calm her down long enough to get the collar in place.

Then it’s rodeo time. The blanket is removed, the gate is opened and the elk, usually, gallops off. Sometimes, an often-trapped elk will stay close, waiting for another treat from the apparently harmless trap, Erland said.

The collars are programmed to fall off the animal after one year.

Nearly everything the group does requires a lot of work, and a little muscle, but according to Erland and the dozens of volunteers he gets for even small projects, it’s worth it.

“I’m glad to see (the elk),” he said. “If you have a diversified ecosystem, you have a healthy ecosystem.”