elk analysis v2
TRANSCRIPT
Where Do the Elk Play ?
Jerry Sullivan, GIS Data Specialist Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Technology Services [email protected] 608-266-5428
Wisconsin Land Information Association February 15- 17, 2012, Stevens Point
Wisconsin Elk Habitat Suitability Analysis
“An experimental elk herd of 25 animals was released into the Chequamegon National Forest near Clam Lake, Wisconsin in 1995. This herd thrived and increased to nearly 100 animals within 10 years.
The project’s experimental phase ended and responsibility for the herd transferred from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
In June 2000, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approved a management plan for the Clam Lake elk herd. This plan established core and buffer areas, described habitat and population management techniques, and set population objectives.”
Wisconsin Elk Habitat Suitability Analysis
Previously, potential elk habitat was analyzed in relation to WISCLAND Land Cover, derived from 1992-1993 Landsat imagery, for variables including: winter foods, winter cover, and spring foods.
Two social elements also found as important were used in this Habitat Suitability Index (HSI): road density and land ownership.
Wisconsin Elk Habitat Suitability Analysis
Over the course of more than a decade (1999-2010), WDNR field researchers collected over 29,000 elk locations by telemetry.
Wisconsin Elk Habitat Suitability Analysis
USFS staff also created geodatabase themes of forest stand data for federal lands, with 50 classes of stand types, and photo-interpreted a land cover layer of 13 classes for private inholdings, and a five-mile buffer around the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest (CNNF).
(The former lack formal metadata; the latter have complete metadata.)
Wisconsin Elk Habitat Suitability Analysis
Thanks to Deb Veen, USFS, and Scott McBride, WDNR, for assistance with data sharing and temporal data preparation.
Thanks to Matthew McKay, Laine Stowell, and Bill Ceelen, all of WDNR, as project sponsors.