National Park Using GPS Trackers to Watch Elk Population
25 Jun 2013Advanced GPS tracking technology is being used to monitor and track the elk population in South Dakota.
Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is now using GPS trackers to monitor their elk population. Park workers from Washington State Park assisted them with tagging 36 female elk that roam their national park. This was all part of a United States Geological Survey (USGS), which is tracking various wildlife using GPS tracking collars.
The GPS technology in conjunction with the geological survey is expected to find out where the elk go when they’re pushed out of the park. Elk at Wind Cave National Park have been leaving the park and are unable to return. The survey and GPS technology will help geologists discover what’s behind this mystery.
The elk’s locations are recorded every day, at 15-minute intervals. They are showing the movements, location and mortality of the elk that are being tracked.
“These GPS collars will allow us to monitor elk movements in and around the park and help determine whether the plan is working,” said park superintendent Vidal Davila. “These collars will remain on until the late winter or early spring of 2015.”
The collars are fitted with GPS trackers as well as a high-frequency device to send a beeping signal back to the receiver which the scientists hold. Each time a beep is sent to the receiver, it signals that the elk has changed course or done something different.
The collars can also inform scientists of the possible death of an elk as the GPS tracker stays silent for more than 8 hours and then sends a mortality signal.
Duane Weber, Biological Science Technician, said “With the GPS data that the collars will be collecting that once we recover those collars that we’ll have a very good track of where those animals moved after they’ve been pushed out of the park. And for the animals that don’t get pushed out of the park, we’ll be able to see if there’s a change in the home range for those animals as well after we’ve reduced the population here in the park.”
In November and December, the GPS collars will be collected from the elk and analyzed further. There is more to be analyzed aside from the initial monitoring. They will also add more GPS collars to new elk to monitor and map their movements in hopes of determining what their mortality rate is once they leave Wind Cave National Park.
After the 5-year study is complete, scientists hope to find out more about the elk who leave the park and help protect them once they leave the safety of Wind Cave.
Comments are closed.