MSU Elk Study: People (on machines) have Bigger Impacts

A recent article on an MSU elk study focused on how hunters, not wolves, have the bigger impact on this popular game animal, and while this is undoubtedly true, not all hunters are the same. For those who park their vehicles and hike in, the impacts are much different than those who use off-road vehicles for access. 

In fact, the article quotes one of the study's co-authors, Robert A. Garrott, who explained, "The more accessible a piece of public land is to hunting, the more likely it is that those prey animals in those areas with high human access perceive those as a high-threat area."

Furthermore, the Bitterroot National Forest (BNF) analyzed impacts to elk in its Travel Management Plan Draft EIS that stated, "Ironically, increasing road and trail access routes to summer ranges of (elk) may actually decrease public access to these animals during hunting seasons as animals respond to early hunting pressure by shifting to winter ranges on privately-owned refuge areas prior to the rifle season (Grigg 2007)."

The same EIS contained observations from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks: "The Skalkaho Basin/Falls Creek area used to be prime elk summer range, and over 100 elk were seen there on a summer flight as recently as 2002. Elk use of this area has been steadily declining until very few are observed there now—only 17 during a FWP flight in 2006 and 23 in 2007 (PF-WILD-020). Off-Highway Vehicle use in the area has been increasing during the period when elk numbers declined, and it is likely that those two trends are not unrelated." 

ORVs and elk simply are simply not compatible. Not only do they lead to increased hunting pressure, but outside of hunting season they decrease core security areas according to the BNF's analysis:

"Table 3.5-17 shows that there are substantial differences in the Wildlife Core Area percentage between the alternatives on a Hunting District scale and on the Forest scale when considering both roads and trails open to motorized use in the calculations. The Wildlife Core Security Area improves considerably from the existing condition (Alternative 2) in all of the action Alternatives in all Hunting Districts except for HD 240, where the improvement is modest." [HD 240 has the highest road density of all districts]. 

Finally, while the article explained that people, not wolves, impact elk the most, the untold story is that people on off-road vehicles impact elk more than any others.