Elk, Aspen, and Birds

A community helps birds come back to Wyoming's National Elk Refuge

By Chuck Schneebeck

On the National Elk Refuge, thousands of elk are supplemented with food in winter to keep them away from private land and prevent winter mortality, but the high concentrations of elk have destroyed aspen stands needed by cavity-nesting birds. Photo by Mark Gocke

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is known for its beautiful mountains and abundant wildlife. Visitors to the valley are awed by the thousands of elk that winter on the National Elk Refuge. Few realize, however, that the elk have become so numerous that they have destroyed significant habitats for birds.

High concentrations of elk have consumed young aspen shoots and killed older trees by eating the bark. As a result, cavity-nesting birds have fewer places to breed. To mitigate this loss, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation has been working with the local community to provide nest boxes, help cavity-nesting birds make a comeback, and document the the birds? nesting success through The Birdhouse Network, a citizen-science project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The problems with elk began when ranchers brought cattle to the valley beginning in the late 1800s. During the summer, the cattle consumed forage that the elk depended on in winter. The starving elk raided the ranchers? haystacks. After the ranchers fenced off the haystacks, thousands of elk died during severe winters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In 1912, Congress approved the purchase of land for a winter elk refuge. Hay was provided to draw the elk away from the ranches, and supplementary food is still provided to this day. More elk can now survive on the refuge than on the existing wintering range. As many as 8,500 elk have inhabited the 24,000-acre refuge in recent years. The good news is that fewer elk are dying of starvation. The bad news is that the elk have stripped away nearly all of the riparian vegetation on the refuge and destroyed the stands of aspen.

Mountain Bluebirds are nesting on the refuge again, thanks to volunteers who built and put up nest boxes. Photo by Liz Larcom/CLO

In 2002, the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation initiated a program to educate the public about the plight of cavity-nesting birds and to improve breeding habitat with nest boxes. The Jackson Hole Community Foundation and the Earth Friends Foundation provided additional financial support.

Throughout the project, community volunteers cut out nest boxes and students from local schools helped to assemble them. In cooperation with the National Forest Service, 48 boxes were placed in burned and unburned locations to study the effects of fire on cavity-nesting birds. During the second year, 103 boxes were mounted along the highway that passes through the refuge and enters Grand Teton National Park.

The community response to the boxes was immediate. People wanted to know who put them up, what kinds of birds were expected to nest, and how they could get some boxes to put up around their property. More than 35 people helped in monitoring nest boxes, and others are requesting to be part of the program next year.

The results have also been very positive for birds. Prior to placing the boxes, there was only one known pair of Mountain Bluebirds, the only cavity-nesting birds along the five-mile stretch of highway. The first year the boxes were up, 94 Tree Swallow and Mountain Bluebird fledglings were reported. This year there were more than 200 fledglings of these species. The data are being used by The Birdhouse Network in studies of breeding biology and conservation of species such as the Mountain Bluebird, which is declining significantly in parts of its range.

To learn more about how to get involved in nest-box monitoring at the National Elk Refuge, call (307) 733-1582. To join The Birdhouse Network, visit www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse.

Chuck Schneebeck is a participant of The Birdhouse Network and a volunteer for the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu