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Forage
Forage Extension Program
Elk
Habitat Management Suggestions
for Selected Wildlife Species
By R.J. Mackie, R.F. Batchelor, M.E. Majerus, J.P. Weigand,
and V.P. Sundberg
"Since
elk are adaptable, their diet may vary from one
range to the next." |
The Rocky Mountain elk, or Wapiti, occurs throughout
most of the mountainous and forested portions of Montana.
Elk habitat in the state varies from the arid Missouri
River Breaks, to the moist coniferous forests of the
West. Elk are found from the mountain brushlands and
meadows, aspen groves and open parks adjacent to heavy
timber, to the foothill grasslands east of the continental
divide. Excellent habitat in western Montana was created
during the early 1900's by large forest fires and the
vast acres of brushland that resulted through plant
succession.
Foods
Elk in Montana occupy a variety of habitats and thus
feed on a wide range of forage species - the leaves,
succulent stems and fruits - from trees, shrubs, forbs
and grasses. Since elk are adaptable, their diet may
vary from one range to the next. This variation depends
to a large degree on the availability of forage species
and is a function of the composition of plant communities.
What may be a choice food on one range may rate no better
than fair on another. Important elk foods can be classified
into two categories according to each food's ability
to attract and sustain elk in good physical condition.
Proper classification reflects seasonal palatability
and nutritional content of plant parts eaten. Choice
foods attract elk and maintain health and reproduction
while fair foods are somewhat deficient, but usually
sufficient to maintain life through critical periods
of the year.
Elk prefer native bunchgrasses for winter forage; however,
they will feed on other grasses, sedges, forbs and shrubs.
During spring, elk feed extensively on green grasses
and, with the arrival of summer, switch mostly to forbs
such as dandelion, geranium, aster, clover and trefoil.
Grasses again become the most important food component
in the fall diet. On browse ranges of western Montana,
as much as 90 percent of the winter diet and 50 percent
of the summer diet may consist of browse species. Habitat
used by elk in the state is classified as browse range
and grassland range on the basis of winter food availability.
Browse ranges predominate in the heavily forested regions
of western Montana, with a gradual transition in plant
communities from western browse ranges to east slope
grassland ranges. Choice foods of browse ranges are
willow, redstem ceanothus, mountain maple, serviceberry,
chokecherry and sedges. The preferred species occur
in greatest quantity on burned-over lands where the
forest canopy is sparse or absent. Choice forage species
of grasslands include Idaho fescue, bluebunch wheatgrass,
western wheatgrass, Sandberg bluegrass and rough fescue.
Habitat Management Suggestions
Management of rangelands for elk must consider dual
and competitive uses of important forage species by
domestic livestock. Use of a range is usually determined
by examining the percent of annual growth of plants
eaten by animals - domestic and wild. As a rule of thumb,
we know that forage is being utilized too heavily when
more than 50 percent of the available annual growth
of key species has been consumed. In such cases, either
livestock or elk numbers should be reduced - by seasonal
management of livestock or by increased harvest of elk
through hunting. To recognize proper use, overuse and
general range conditions, an experienced range conservationist,
biologist or soil conservationist can be helpful.
Woodland habitat in mountainous elk range usually accumulates
deep snow in the late fall and winter and elk must migrate
into the foothills and lower rangelands for winter forage.
This is a critical period for elk, and the season when
death losses are most likely to occur.
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