Below is a Facebook post from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supplies funding for this ongoing elk research project.
An Adaptive Elk and Carnivore Management Project team has been capturing elk calves and fitting them with radio collars. This is just one step in a three-part project, which includes animal capture and collaring, remote camera distribution, and surveying the types of forage and forested habitats elk use.
This is the second year the team has focused their work in the Lower Clark Fork near Noxon in Sanders County. This research is crucial in the efforts to better understand the factors influencing elk populations in HD 121.
“We are hoping to better understand elk population dynamics in northwest Montana by studying the top-down influences like predation and the bottom-up influences like habitat,” said Dr. Kelly Proffitt, FWP research lead for this project.
To learn more about the project background and updates, visit the Research tab at https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management/elk
Thanks to our partner, the University of Montana W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, and funding from RMEF.
(Photo credit: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks)