Collaring elks for science

Elk are being fitted with collars, to tell researchers what they and other animals need to navigate them through urban sprawl, climate change and large restoration projects.

Northern Arizona University’s Paul Beier, a conservation biology and wildlife ecology professor in the School of Forestry, said this information is critically important to keep animals from danger or extinction.

“With climate change, we have the situation where habitat is literally moving out from under the feet of wildlife,” he said. “In order for these species to stay where they are, in terms of a healthy population, they have to move.”

Beier is developing maps detailing links for wild areas - or wildlife corridors - to help land managers understand how animals move across the land.

For Arizona Game and Fish Department wildlife biologist Jeff Gagnon, the job of collaring an elk is somewhat like a rodeo event. Within minutes, he and a team of wildlife managers can calm a frightened animal that might weigh as much as 450 kg.

The collar is programmed to fall off in a few months. But in the meantime, every two hours a GPS unit is sending signals to satellites that are relaying them to biologists.

Gagnon has been tracking some 130 elk around major highways.

“We know where the animals are, what kind of habitat they are using and what barriers are stopping them. For a lot of animals when we fragment their habitat, they can’t get to resources like summer or winter feed. We also run the risk of isolating or breaking up the herd, which can lead to a smaller gene pool and a weaker species.”

With information about wildlife movement, highways are becoming less of a hindrance, and safer for wildlife and people. Groups like the Arizona Department of Transportation, Elk Society, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Federal Highway Administration are funding research and passageways.