The National Park Service acknowledged that 250+ Tule Elk, native to California, died over the last two years. A likely culprit is the ongoing
Californian drought. However, it is not simply an
unfortunate circumstance:
While nearly half the elk inside the fenced area died, free-roaming Point Reyes elk herds with access to water increased by nearly a third during the same period.
The news comes as the Park Service considers a ranch management plan to either remove or fence in some of the free-roaming elk herds, while extending park cattle grazing leases for up to 20 years.
“Tule elk need room to roam, and native wildlife in our national park should not be fenced in or prevented from finding water and food,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The loss of nearly half the Pierce Point elk herd highlights how important it is that the Park Service not cave to commercial ranchers who want free-roaming Point Reyes elk fenced in.
The Tule elk story is one of the great successes in the world of conservation:
Tule elk are native and endemic to California. There were once 500,000 tule elk in the state but by the late 1800s impacts from cattle ranching and hunting had reduced them to only 28 elk. From one surviving herd, tule elk were reintroduced throughout the state and there are now 4,300 elk in 25 herds. Tule elk were returned to Pierce Point at Point Reyes in 1978, and a free-ranging herd was established in the park in 1998. Point Reyes Seashore is the only national park with tule elk.
In recent years the National Park Services has come under fire for what many conservationists feel is a favoring of commercial ranching, while dairy farmers feel that there is a naïveté to
the strict position.
The issue has gotten particularly contentious since the Park Service began preparing a ranch management plan this year. The plan, expected to be completed next year, is an attempt to honor former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s promise two years ago to maintain the ranching and farming heritage along the seashore that dates back almost to the Gold Rush.
The ranch management plan will include recommendations on what to do with the elk, which are native to the region but were killed off at about the same time the Point Reyes ranches were founded. It’s a difficult subject for the Park Service, which is obligated by mission statements to both protect and restore native species and preserve agriculture on the peninsula. The powerful elk, with their elaborate candelabra-style antlers, are also a featured attraction for the 2.6 million annual tourists who visit the park.
Just moving the herd into another part of California is not a simple option. Tule elk have
Johne's disease in their source stock and testing, to make sure a population would be cleared to move interstate would be expensive and difficult.