Finley Jeansonne

The Shocking Decline of the Colorado Elk

Population.

Abstract

Over the past 25 years, it has become abundantly clear that the overall climate of the world
has been changing. While it has been going on since the industrial revolution, it has spiked
since the 90s and 2000s. There is overwhelming evidence that the cause is greenhouse gas
emissions. This can be caused by human expansion and production of things like buildings
and transportation. This has had a major impact on not only humans, but also the wildlife
too. In Colorado, the effect can be especially seen in the wildlife, namely the elk population.
Similar to climate change, declining elk populations have been tracked since the late 90s.
Showing that they have increased by about 50% in the last 25 years. While the decrease can
be attributed to things like excess hunting and predators, it is mainly from trail construction
and climate change. Even more alarming, the reproduction rates are so low that the elk are
in danger of becoming endangered. Many people believe that this is directly associated
with global warming and the effect on the environment and the climate. Needless to say,
this has to change immediately if we would like to still have a healthy planet.
How Bad is it?
Since about 1999, scientists and researchers have been tracking the elk population in
Colorado. Unfortunately, the results have been rather shocking over the years due to
several aspects of mostly unnatural phenomena. In an article by Steamboat Pilot and
Today, the biggest statistic quoted from Steamboat says that “From 1999 to 2015,
populations have declined more than 50%,” they also go on to say that it is exacerbated
from 2003 to 2004.” Another study published by Steamboat, shows that in the last 4
years, the Colorado elk population has plummeted by over 3,000 in just that short
time. Many people take this for granted as it is very natural for people to hunt and kill
elk, but what people are unaware of are the lasting effect it has had on the elk. The
even more concerning aspect is the reproduction rate. The reproduction rate of the elk
is at a dangerous point where many people are afraid of what the next step might be.
Paul Millhouser from Steamboat says that the birth rates may soon be at the point of
no return, suggesting that the elk herds might not recover now. The elk declination
might have an effect on not only the elk (obviously), but the human species as well,
especially Colorado natives. Elk hunting provides millions of dollars of revenue for
Colorado in the form of big game licenses mainly, not to mention the food it supplies
for thousands of people in the area.

This graph simply portrays the population of the Colorado elk herd from 2004 to 2013, while
it doesn’t have all of the years, it is a great representation of the decline.

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What Caused it?
However, these factors don’t tell the whole story. All of the variables must be
considered when looking at something of this scale. So gathering the variables, we
have things like human expansion already, but we must consider both natural
predators, and harsh winters. This is exactly what Paul Millhouser did in 2003 when
examining the causes just like I’m doing now. And he came to a rather shocking result
when he tested his theories. In 2003, the amount of available hunting licenses in
Colorado was drastically reduced in favor of the elk, and surprisingly, the elk herd
continued to suffer. As Scott Condon of the aspen times says, “The problem is the elk
population is no longer resilient.” He cites human expansion as the problem,
specifically noting hiking and biking trails as well as roads on the countryside. Scott
also says “They’ve been putting up with all the insults and injuries of development and
human activity throughout the ’80 and ’90s and finally it reached that point where all
that stretch was taken out.” What he means by that is humans have reached the point
of no return with their lack of regard for the elk population and careless construction.
Bill Andree, who works as a CPW in Eagle County, says there is no one factor killing the
herds, it is all of the human factors though. “It’s not only that there are more people
and more houses. There are more areas being used by people.” Wescoatt, a partner of
Andree said. While there have been large wildfires and floods, they aren’t responsible
for the decline. And the same goes for the predators in the area. It is the lack of regard
and willingness to protect areas of large wildlife presence.

This graph shows the Colorado elk population (orange), and the amount of hunting licenses
(blue). The stars represent spikes in the population when the amount of licenses changed.

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This interesting graph shows the elk population (blue line), compared to the wolf population
(orange). As you can see, in 2013 there was a huge spike in the wolf population, and the elk
plummeted that year.

Is there a Solution?
The Journal recently published an article, written by Jonathan Romeo reveals the
possible solutions to this problem. They say that every 10 years, the Colorado Parks
and Wildlife revises his services. Brad Meister, a CPW biologist says, “It is important to
set population objectives for the elk.” By doing this, the goal is to maintain the
population step by step. When the CPW usually wants to control the number of elk,
they increase the number of tags available. “In Southwest Colorado, it will likely be the
opposite.” There are also many other factors that have “plagued” the area. These things
are like climate change and drought. And these are obviously human caused. As shown
before, when decreasing licenses, it only helps for a short period of time. The trend
just continues. So the solution, while rather simple, is nearly impossible. In order to
fully restore the habitat and reproduction rates of the elk, humans have to stop doing
what humans do, which is expansion. Humans would have to stop making trails, roads,
and buildings, not to mention a huge halt of Co2 emissions which is its own problem in
the world right now as well. If we can manage to stop plowing through the land and
start thinking about the effects on the elk, everything could work out. But until then,
the elk population in Colorado will likely decrease to a catastrophic level. In some
areas like Jackson, Wyoming they have done just that, and it is working to their favor.

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This graph shows how in Jackson, Wyoming they stopped development and the elk
population slowly evened out to the red line. If they can keep this up, it could be very
beneficial for the elk.