WHAT MOVES DEER, ELK?

Kristen Munday, a member of the Starkey Project's field staff, observes an elk while on horseback. (Photo/DANE JOHNSON).

Dick Mason

The Observer

Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer share many obvious similarities. Still, the big-game animals are as different as mountains and deserts when reacting to people.

Elk fear people, deer see us as a mere annoyance.

This is a conclusion one might draw after reading the results of a study of the interaction of Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer to all-terrain vehicles, hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

The study's results are published in a new book, "The Starkey Project: A synthesis of long-term studies of elk and mule deer.''

The book contains summaries of 17 studies conducted as part of the Starkey elk and deer research project. The book's technical editor is Mike Wisdom, a U.S. Forest Service biologist who led the study on the impact of off-road recreation on mule deer and elk.

Wisdom said it was conducted because of a dramatic increase in off-road recreation over the past 20 years. ATV use on public lands, for example, has increased seven-fold over the past 20 years in the United States.

The impact of off-road activity, that which takes place on trails and unimproved roads, is thus important for land managers to understand as they try to accommodate wildlife and off- road recreation, said Wisdom. The biologist teamed with Alan Ager, Haiganoush Preisler, Norm Cimon and Bruce Johnson to conduct the study and author the report.

Ager and Cimon are research analysts with the U.S. Forest Service, Johnson is an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist and Preisler is a statistical analyst for the Forest Service. All live in La Grande except Preisler, who is from Albany, Calif.

The study was conducted in the 3,590-acre northeast section of the enclosed Starkey Experimental Forest. ATV users, mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders were sent into the area to cover a 20-mile trail separately during five-day periods. Different numbers of people were sent depending on the activity so that the miles covered each day would be the same per activity. One pair of ATV riders, two pairs of mountain bikers and three pairs of hikers and horseback riders were sent for separate periods.

The movements of 12 female elk and 12 female mule deer, all of which had radio collars, were monitored. The radio collars recorded the movements of the deer and elk every 20 seconds, 24 hours a day. The animals' locations were established with a global positioning system.

A five-day off-road activity period would be followed by a nine-day period of no activity to determine how deer and elk were affected.

Elk were affected significantly but the impact on mule deer was minimal.

Elk responded most dramatically to ATVs. Mountain bikers had the next biggest impact. Horseback riders and hikers followed although their impact was significantly less.

Elk, on average, began moving when ATV riders and mountain bikers were 1,640 yards away. Horseback riders within 820 yards of elk sparked movement and hikers triggered movement when they were about 550 yards away.

Elk movement rates were substantially higher in the morning. Movement rates slowed significantly at noon when those involved in off-road activity took a lunch break. Rates of movement picked up in the afternoon but were not as high as they were in the morning.

The study revealed that movement rates were also high at sunrise and sunset during the off-road activity days even though there was no human movement at these times. This may be because the elk had been pushed by off-road activity away from favorite feeding areas, Wisdom said.

Frequent movement triggered by off-road activity could have a detrimental effect on elk. Wisdom explained that the energy expended, and the loss of time for eating, could cause the body fat level of elk to fall below 9 percent, making it much harder for them to survive the winter.

Although mule deer reacted less dramatically to off-road activity their response also could affect their feeding habits.

Deer may be spending more time hiding and less eating when there is off-road activity, Wisdom said. If this is true it means deer have less of an opportunity to build fat reserves needed to get through the

winter.

Starkey researchers hope to follow up the study with others to get a better idea of how deer and elk respond to off-road activity. For example, a study using ATVs equipped with devices that limit the sound they emit may be conducted. The response of elk to ATVs with and without noise reduction devices would be compared. The study would be conducted with the aid of decibel monitors.

Wisdom said he also hopes to look into how far deer and elk move in response to off-road activity. The study just completed focused on the rate of movement of deer and elk when there is off-road activity.

The new Starkey book is available at Sunflower Books. More information on the book can be obtained by calling Alliance Communications Group,

1-800-627-0629.