Ascertaining Elk Impacts on Plant Communities

On the Ground Managers charged with managing landscapes influenced by elk are challenged to establish monitoring protocols that identify when impacts are responsible for declining ecological condition. We assessed the impact of elk herbivory on plant communities on an elk winter range by comparing canopy cover of common species that represented subjectively selected heavy and light elk impacts. Winter elk use has little direct impact on existing bunchgrasses, but winter elk traffic disrupts soils and provides the potential for invasive plant establishment.