How can Eagle County save its declining elk population?

Earlier this month, the Vail Daily reported that, while elk may seem to be doing better, there is still significant cause for concern about the future of Eagle County’s elk population.

In 1995, the elk population in the Colorado Parks and Wildlife data analysis unit that includes Eagle County contained just under 15,000 individuals. In 2015, the elk population was 6,400. Currently, Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages within Eagle County for an elk population of between 5,500 to 8,500. In 2018, the Vail Daily reported that Eagle County had seen a 50% decline in its elk population.

Jim Gonzales, who was born and raised in Minturn, has borne witness to the county’s elk decline. “About 1980 or so, 80s and 90s, there were literally hundreds of elk above Minturn, from Dowd Junction to Red Cliff, at least 200 to 150 head of elk,” Gonzales said.

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“I got pictures of 150 (elk) above Minturn years ago. Now, you’re lucky if you see 20 or 30, 40 maybe,” Gonzales said.

Colorado’s elk population has historically looked a lot smaller than it does now. There are currently an estimated 250,000 elk in the state, following significant die-off in the northwest corner of the state after a harsh winter. In 1990, roughly 180,000 head of elk were estimated to call Colorado home, following the proliferation of elk after 50 were brought over from Wyoming to repopulate the state at a time when only 40,000 elk existed in all of North America.

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Wildlife issues have been identified by Eagle County residents as a priority. A phone and mail survey conducted in 2022 by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable shows that Eagle County residents care about and want to see county-wide action to protect local wildlife. One hundred percent of mail respondents and 98% of telephone respondents indicated that sustaining wildlife populations in Eagle County over time was somewhat, moderately, or very important to them.

So what can be done to protect Eagle County’s elk?

‘Managing for a decreasing population’

As an organization, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s main tool for population management is hunting. As the elk population has declined in Eagle County, so have opportunities provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife for hunting. In 1995, the total number of elk harvested in the data analysis unit that includes Eagle County was roughly 1,300, and of that number, roughly 550 were cow, or female, elk. In 2015, 820 elk were harvested in total, and under half were cow elk. In 2019, the cow elk harvest was reduced to two.

With such aggressive limitations on hunting cow elk, the population would be expected to rebound. Instead, the population stabilized.

For an elk population to grow, the ratio of calves per 100 cows should be around 60 to 70. Currently, the calf-to-cow ratio in Eagle County is in the mid-30s, a ratio that indicates a shrinking population. The Eagle County elk population is currently relatively stable, between Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s established 5,500 to 8,500 range, but would struggle to recover in the case of an extreme winter.

What this means is that while elk are not dying in large numbers, they are also not thriving. “We’re keeping more animals on the landscape, but the proportion of that herd that is getting recruited (surviving to one year of age), so the young, is just — things are happening to the younger age classes, the calves — they’re not surviving to adulthood. Very few of them are,” said Devin Duval, district wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“Way more animals are getting hit in the road, or were dying of other kinds of injury, or just environmental conditions, than by hunter harvest. And we had to do that — that’s the responsible thing to do,” Duval said.

“We’re essentially managing for a decreasing population,” Duval said.

Why is the population decreasing?

Development causes direct impacts on elk by permanently changing the landscape on which elk live, fragmenting and destroying elk habitat. Recreation has indirect impacts on elk, including carving up elk habitat with trails, decreasing calf survival rates due to maternal stress and lack of nutrients, and physically displacing elk from land they formerly inhabited.

“You could look at a lot of places within the Holy Cross in particular, that are high Alpine tundra environments where you have all the necessary qualities to be very productive elk habitat summer range, and now you just don’t see them there because they’ve been replaced by human presence,” Duval said.

Elk are a migratory species that tend to favor spending the winter at lower elevations, and the summer at higher elevations. Prime elk habitat includes south-facing slopes, sagebrush and grasses to eat, space, water and cover. The best elk habitat is also devoid of human disturbance.

With proliferating recreation at high elevations in addition to growing development at lower elevations — Colorado saw higher numbers of humans on 14ers during the pandemic than ever before — elk are struggling to avoid contact with people during every season.

Speed, noise and predictability of activity all vary in human impact on elk. A study conducted on Vail and Beaver Creek ski areas from 1995-97 examined how the number of disturbances during calving season, when elk are most vulnerable, correlated with significant impacts on population numbers. The study found that 10 disturbances produced no population growth, and greater than 10 disturbances caused population decline. “The eight to 10 disturbances would basically equate to a zero percent population growth, so you have negated any amount of reproductive success just with that few of disturbances,” Duval said.

Other studies examined the size of the zone of influence. Every trail has an associated zone of influence, or an area around the trail within which activity on the trail is still impacting elk. Different forms of use on the trail — hiking, mountain biking, motorized vehicles, off-leash dogs — have different zones of influence, and different levels of impact on elk.

“Nine different bodies of research dating back from as early as 1982, all the way to 2018, fairly recent, talk about the (recreational impacts to deer and elk), motorized versus non-motorized,” Duval said. The average of the studies found that elk within 646 meters of nonmotorized travel, and 970 meters of motorized travel experience some impact from humans on the landscape. “That’s not to say that you wouldn’t find animals within that disturbance buffer, but that they are going to be sustaining a certain amount of impact,” Duval said.

Elk impacted by human presence experience increased cortisol, or stress, levels, displacement from particular areas, burning excess calories as a result of the displacement, increased vigilance, or alertness to potential danger, and decreased feeding as a result of constant vigilance. “You’re kind of doubling down. That animal might be burning calories fleeing and moving from that disturbance, and then on top of it, they’re also not consuming calories,” Duval said.

As infrastructure and recreation have moved into Eagle County’s open spaces, questions have been raised about how to prioritize land use. “It’s another bitter irony that the areas that are most heavily impacted are also some that are the most critical for wildlife,” Duval said. “So do we designate those as sacrificial areas and say we’re okay with ubiquitous development for recreation?”

The EverKrisp Trail is an example of a trail that runs through prime elk habitat, as it makes up critical elk winter and calving habitat. This makes it all the more important that trail users adhere to trail closures on EverKrisp, the winter closure went into effect on Nov. 23. 

But even seasonal closures do not completely protect elk. “We can put a seasonal closure on it for the sake of wildlife, but we still have to be okay with it being a net loss, because you’re not going to have 100% efficacy of your closure, and then it’s going to be seasonally unavailable for animals that might actually use it for far more than just calving season or a couple months out of the winter,” Duval said.

Beyond winter use, year-round use of some trails causes consistent impacts on elk.

“Historically speaking, there’s still a heavy focus on protection of winter range, and the quantity and quality of that winter range, and that hasn’t changed. That’s still super critical. And then that lends into calving season. But there’s also a growing body of evidence that suggests that the summer and fall are just as important,” Duval said.

“If you are being constantly harassed throughout the course of the summer, and you’re not able to accumulate sufficient fat storage, fat reserves and body condition, if you’re not going into winter in good shape, those fat stores accumulating throughout the summer and fall, then you’re already starting at a deficit, and whether that winter is severe, or whether that winter is average or below average, you’re still going to be in a compromised body state, and you can equate reproductive success to the body condition of that animal, that cow elk, in this case. The body condition of mom is going to translate to birth weight for the calf, and whether they’re even able to successfully reproduce and give birth,” Duval said.

Get involved

There are a few concrete actions individuals can take to protect Eagle County’s elk herds.

Being mindful of trail use is one of the simplest ways to take care of local wildlife. Stay off of closed trails for the duration of the closure and longer if elk remain on the land past the end of the closure. Leash dogs on trails, and turn around or change course upon encountering elk. Watch or photograph elk through binoculars and from afar.

“Recreation is a vital part of the local economy, and people’s health and wellbeing,” Duval said. “Be smart about it — I’ve physically turned around or gone miles out of my way to avoid calving elk groups … I won’t get within half a mile of them,” he said.

“You don’t have to go to build a new trail. There’s already some existing. Go there, take a drive, just go somewhere else instead of hiking that trail, or taking that mountain bike trail, or giving money to build another trail,” Gonzales said.

Learning about elk habits and the current state of the local elk population is another important step toward protecting elk.

“Educate yourself, because you physically might not see the animal that you affected, and it died because you were there,” Gonzales said.

Getting involved with land use discussions is another way to stand up for wildlife. As development — both of trails and buildings — proceeds in the county, think critically about the impact it will have on wildlife, and voice an opinion as meetings are held.

“It’s entirely necessary, running that kind of mental calculus around: Is this particular trail in a particularly area a need or a want, and what are the ramifications of that?” Duval said.

It is up to the public to ensure that Eagle County’s elk remain on the landscape. “The public has a role in this, whether it’s the specific decision not to go on a certain trail at a certain time of year, to leash their dog, but also understand that there are certain tradeoffs, and that their involvement in something like the land use process can be instrumental in saving habitat. If people want to see wildlife, then their involvement is going to be pretty critical,” Duval said.