Northern Yellowstone Elk: Resilience and Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem

** Softcover – Printed in Full Color – 159 Pages ** Northern Yellowstone Elk Resilience and Adaptation to Changes in Management Policies and the Ecosystem Authors: P. J. White, Daniel R. Stahler, Douglas W. Smith, Daniel R. MacNulty, and Robert A. Garrott Technical Editor: Charissa O. Reid Yellowstone is a land of icons. We often refer to several of Yellowstone’s wildlife species as such. The grizzly bear is an icon of wildness. The bison is an American icon. The gray wolf and cutthroat trout are icons of ecosystem restoration and conservation success. But among these cherished species, the elk of Yellowstone prominently stand.The elk is an icon of resiliency; a guardian of biodiversity; key to the structure and function of this dynamic landscape. Their influence touches the far reaches of this vast Yellowstone ecosystem, and spans millennia. The mark of Yellowstone elk is of immense ecological, scientific, and cultural importance. One could argue our own species and elk share the most unique relationship in the history of Yellowstone human-wildlife dimensions. To some tribal nations, what we now refer to as the Yellowstone River was long known as the Elk River. This reflects Yellowstone’s significance as a vital home to elk, that in turn provided sustenance, clothing, tools, and other ingredients that constitute the rich cultures of native peoples who inhabited these lands. Elk are revered as a symbol of abundance, strength, and spiritual connection. In the late 1880s, when Teddy Roosevelt’s interest in Yellowstone became focused, he united with George Bird Grinnell, founder of the Audubon Society and co-founder of the Boone and Crockett Club, to defend Yellowstone and its wildlife from market hunting, poaching, and commercial development. Yellowstone elk were a main target of their protection, and they delivered. As Yellowstone National Park crystalized as a preserve, it resumed its role as one of the most important sanctuaries and breeding grounds for elk in North America. What followed on the heels of this protection expanded an already dynamic history of elk and human relations. It is a path defined by shifting management policies, human values, and maturing ecological understanding of how elk and other wildlife ft into the Yellowstone ecosystem. Today, up to eight distinct elk herds have been described throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with many relying seasonally on the productive habitats encompassed by the park. But one elk herd has been in the spotlight ever since the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916 – the elk of northern Yellowstone. The northern herd has long been at the heart of challenging issues in Yellowstone National Park. Concerns throughout the last century over too many elk, or too few, have generated ample debates from regional to national focus, congressional examination, and even reviews by the National Academy of Sciences. For Yellowstone National Park, whose primary mission is to preserve resources in their natural condition, controversies over elk have included human-caused changes in abundance, impacts on range quality, disease spread, competition for food with other wild ungulates or livestock outside the park, and of course, rivalry between hunters and large carnivores over their shared use. Fortunately for us, and for these elk, we have a rich legacy of scientific inquiry and hard-earned lessons from the past that has set a course under which elk continue to thrive in northern Yellowstone. Read and enjoy the fascinating history, challenges, and recovery of the fragile ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park as it relates to the famous elk herds and their management challenges!