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TRES PIEDRAS, NM - Five elk in northern New Mexico joined the space age in January as part of a cooperative study by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.
The elk, part of a study at San Antonio Mountain, were captured by helicopter and fitted with satellite transmitting collars - essentially GPS units. The collars should help the researchers track their daily movements by satellite. Thirty additional elk were captured and fitted at the same time with conventional radio-tracking collars.
This was the second stage of a four-year project that began in December 1998. The biologists hope to determine the migratory patterns used by the San Antonio elk herd, one of the largest in the state with roughly 1,500 animals. The data will help the Department of Game and Fish and other agencies develop management objectives for the herd.
In 1998, 75 elk were fitted with conventional radio collars in the initial capture. Of those 75 animals, 50 are still broadcasting.
"There has been some natural loss of animals through hunting and the like," explained Bruce Thompson, leader of the New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at New Mexico State University. "When this work is finished, we should have about 80 elk that are still broadcasting."
The animals wearing traditional radio collars are tracked by plane once a week, but the satellite collars should allow researchers to obtain information via e-mail. The data should develop a clearer picture of the elk herd^s movements where they originate, how long they stay and the routes they use. The first year^s work proved the animals come from both New Mexico and Colorado. "What we^re primarily learning is how complicated this wintering population is, relative to what people may have thought," Thompson said.
Project Coordinator Sam Smallidge is very excited about the satellite collars: "We^ll get a location every day so we can look at daily movements of these five animals. The best we can do flying fixed-wing aircraft is once a week."
Thompson noted that the success of the study hinges on the tremendous cooperation that is occurring between the Game and Fish Department, the Bureau of Land Management, the Carson National Forest, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Jicarilla Apache Tribe. All have been players either in the planning, the research design, or the financial and moral support.
"This is just a tremendous cooperative venture," Thompson said, "and I^d say that^s the high point."
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Uploaded: 2/16/2000
Uploaded: 2/16/2000