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57 °F 5 Day Forecast Tuesday, December 23, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend December 4, 2003 Biologists to stage a house call Researchers hope to unlock secrets about Roosevelt elk by checking pregnancy and fat reserves Outdoor Journal By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Biologists armed with tranquilizer guns and portable ultrasounds will head to the air today near Roseburg in hopes of unlocking a few secrets about Roosevelt elk’s ability to grow their own herds. Researchers will board helicopters to find 40 radio-collared elk that will be tranquilized from the air so the animals can be scanned on the ground with ultrasounds to check pregnancy and fat reserves before they are released. It’s part of a second year of a large study on the impacts of nutrition and predation on elk herd numbers, trying to determine whether good forage, losses to cougars or a combination of them play a role in a cow elk’s ability to calve and nurture their offspring into eventual adulthood. Some research indicates that cow elk in poor nutritional condition will not ovulate the year they also are caring for a calf, and such conditions could occur in Oregon’s wild. "Cows with surviving calves, more or less, are sucked dry of all of her resources from taking care of the calf," says Dewaine Jackson, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife researcher taking part in the state-run project. "So cows on the edge of the nutritional plane are not ovulating annually." Advertisement If a significant number of cows in Oregon’s woods suffer from what amounts to a nutritional contraceptive, expectations for particular herds to grow from offspring — called "recruitment" — could change dramatically. "What appears is that, of the cows with calves at (their) side right now, about all of them will be without cows next year," Jackson says. "But that’s based on very sparse data. That’s why we’re doing the study." Why Oregon’s Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk populations are declining in some areas is a hot topic from hunters and animal-rights advocates. The sides are polarized over whether the state’s increasing cougar population since 1993’s hound-hunting ban is causing harm to Oregon’s largest big-game animals. Cougars can kill a deer or elk roughly every week, but whether those animals’ deaths actually impact the herds, or simply are weaker animals that do not contribute to breeding. In hopes of settling the issue, the Oregon Legislature in 1999 ordered ODFW to study predation, but provided no funding. The agency came back with a larger study linking the nutrition and predation issues together. A federal appeals court last year blocked the cougar-killing part of the $5 million study, of which $3.8 million comes from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant. But the nutritional aspects of the study did not draw the ire of conservation groups like Klamath/Siskiyou Wildlands Center, which successfully sued to block the cougar-killing. Brenna Bell, the center’s staff attorney, says her group had some qualms about how the elk are handled, but they chose not to attack it legally. "Science sometimes does have some invasive technique," Bell says. "As long as it doesn’t result in the death of one of the elk, I don’t think we’ll have a problem with it." With the help of a Seattle helicopter firm called Aero Copters, which specializes in aerial darting, Jackson and other researchers will locate and tranquilize as many of the 40 radio-collared cow elk they can find. Eighteen of the elk are in the Steamboat area, while 22 are near Tokatee. The group was all captured and radio-collared while pregnant last spring. Once darted, the elk will be restrained while the portable ultrasound will reveal whether they are pregnant, Jackson says. Also, an ultrasound scan of the upper neck and spine area will measure fat reserves. Researchers then will give the animal a "body condition score" by using their fingers to push into ligaments near the elk’s hips, he says. How far he can push helps reveal overall fat reserves, Jackson says. Researchers also will note whether the cows still have their calves with them. The animal will be released unharmed, and plans are to capture the elk again next winter for similar tests. Jackson expects to fly about five days for the study, whose helicopter costs are not to eclipse $40,000, he says. ODFW’s share of the expense is $10,000, with the fish and wildlife service grant paying for the rest, he says. ODFW researchers tried the darting themselves last year, but captured just one elk, Jackson says. So they went to the contractor for this winter’s efforts, he says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback 3 WEEKS FREE! ADVERTISERS SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times