Rocky Mountain Elk
by Priscilla Burgers
Title
Rocky Mountain Elk
Artist
Priscilla Burgers
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Image is part of a large herd of Rocky Mountain bull elk near Sheep Lakes at Rocky Mountain National Park. The setting sun created a beautifully colored backdrop to the elk and bare aspen. North American elk, or wapiti, were once plentiful in the Rocky Mountain National Park area. As Euro- Americans settled the Estes Valley, they hunted elk intensively, sending much of the meat to market in Denver. By 1890 few, if any, elk remained. In 1913 and 1914, before the establishment of the park, the Estes Valley Improvement Association and United States Forest Service transplanted 49 elk from Yellowstone National Park to this area. Around the same time, an all-out effort began to eliminate predators, including the gray wolf and the grizzly bear. The resulting decrease in predators probably hastened the recovery of Rocky's elk population. Today, Elk number about 1 million in North America. Currently, the Park's elk population fluctuates between 600 and 800 in the winter.
Accelerating development along the park boundary is diminishing open space and blocking traditional migration routes, thus decreasing winter forage and habitat. With little rest or food during the fall mating season, bulls enter the winter highly susceptible to the hardships of the coming months.
FAA Featured Photo:
Beauty Group-9/16/2013
FAA Featured Photo:
Small Showrooms Group-9/17/2013
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Excellent Self-taught Artists Group-9/17/2013
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Wildlife Group-9/18/2013
FAA Featured Photo:
Our 4-Legged Friends Group-9/18/2013
FAA Featured Photo:
PhotosRUs Group-9/25/2013
FAA Featured Photo:
All Colorado Group - 08/25/2014
FAA Featured Photo:
Elk and Friends Group - 9/2/2015
FAA Featured Photo:
National Parks Group - 12/30/2015
Uploaded
September 16th, 2013
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Viewed 889 Times - Last Visitor from Ottawa, ON - Canada on 04/14/2024 at 8:45 AM
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