The picture depicts a bull elk amongst spring foliage in Rocky Mountain National Park. These plants are a life-line in the times of need for and elk. When the snow is at its heaviest and the elk are at their most vulnerable and meek state. When you enter the park now you can see that the plant life has changed drastically and there is no longer the thick under-growth just lodge pines and striped aspens. The landscape stripped bare of nutrients.

This is a way that the population can thin out itself. It could possibly balance the numbers of the herds if the range of the herds wasn’t so wide. However with so much space they are able to come down into the plains and the graze the fields of the ranchers. They even come into the fields of farmers and eat the crops such as hays, corn, and wheat.  

                Without the natural death of some of the members the herd numbers explode. The elk have a hierarchy were the strongest males compete for the right to breed over their range. When the number of males of the herd far exceed the females it is almost impossible for the bulls to drive the juveniles out of the group when mating season arrives. This leads to a situation where the weaker of the species is able to mate with multiple cows and create offspring, stopping the lineage of the strongest. This makes a subset of weaker offspring more susceptible to disease and predation.

Population

                Should steps be taken to actively control the herds that spend most of their time in Rocky Mountain National Park?

                In my opinion I think it is imperative that we take steps to lower the number of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. While we love these animals in all of their glory and they bring in a lot of tourist money, they seem to have exploded at an alarming rate. You may ask well why this has happened. It seems simple enough to me we have created a sanctuary of sorts; a place where there is no hunting and a lack of natural predators. So what is the problem? With such a large population there is environment degradation and with so many of these animals in large herds that intermingle, if a disease were to be spread it could take generations to rebuild. True, a generation for elk may be 3 to 4 years as that is when they reach sexual maturity, yet the impact would be swift and felt throughout the region. So I think that there needs to be some action on our part to try and keep the population to a more sustainable number.

                Others might say that a problem does not exist and the herds that roam the town and park freely are a treasured resource. Some may say that the methods that would be used for population control could affect their lives or may be too cruel. Yet others will come to the argument with the idea that every life must be saved.

                While debating this topic I wish to understand more about the potential harm to the environment. What harm may come to the economy if the animals were to disappear and why they might disappear. And I would like to find more information on the methods that may be used to cull the herds and the impact that it might have on the local community.

Intoduction

Hello, my name is Aaron I am currently a student. A soon to be a repeat uncle to what I pray is a beautiful healthy baby. I live in Colorado and I love all that it has to offer. I am constantly outside getting myself into all sorts of mischief. Some of those things would be snowboarding, fishing, hiking, camping, golfing, and well the list goes on and on... I have a silver lab that never seems to be too far from my side and I am perusing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. For this blog I will be exploring the explosion of the elk population in Colorado.