April 30 - May 1, 2013

We are pleased to announce the second and final workshop for the Blue Mountains elk modeling project, titled "Final Nutrition and Habitat Models for Elk in the Blue Mountains."  

This free, two-day workshop will be held on Tuesday, April 30 - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon.

The workshop will be structured as a day of presentations and discussion, followed by a day of hands-on model application for GIS users. On Day 1, the inter-agency modeling team will describe the final habitat and nutrition models and present example applications of both models in the Blue Mountains. On Day 2, potential model users will learn how to use the models in a classroom setting, with hands-on demonstrations of the modeling steps required to run each model.

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Background: Existing elk habitat models used in land management planning in the Blue Mountains are out-of-date and do not reflect new research findings from the last 20 years.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.

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, and the first Blue Mountains workshop, held in April 2012.