April 25, 2012

We are pleased to announce the first workshop for the Blue Mountains elk modeling project, titled "Nutrition and Habitat Models for Elk in the Blue Mountains of NE Oregon and SE Washington."  

The free, one-day workshop will be held on Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon.

Wildhorse Resort Meeting Room Map

Lunch Options

Join us in the evening for a no-host reception from 5:00PM to 7:00PM in the Tucannon-Palouse Rooms, across the hall from where the workshop takes place.

The workshop will offer a series of presentations by the inter-agency modeling team describing the rationale for developing new habitat and nutrition models for the Blue Mountains and results of the modeling work to date.  

The modeling team is also seeking feedback from partners and stakeholders about the work to finalize the models and ensure that they can be readily used in local land management planning.  The workshop offers an excellent opportunity to join biologists and land managers from a variety of State, Federal, Tribal, academic, and private organizations to learn about these new approaches.

Background: Existing elk habitat models used in land management planning in the Blue Mountains are out—of-date and do not reflect new research findings from the last 20 years. This project incorporates those findings, especially of elk nutrition and foraging dynamics, in a resource selection function approach to predict where elk will occur. The new models will benefit current land management plan revisions and habitat management and restoration for elk across the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon and Washington.
More information about the workshop will be available soon. Please check this website for the latest updates.

You can also check the Elk Modeling Project website for more background information about this work, including presentations and summary documents from the two Westside elk modeling workshops, held in 2010 and 2011.