Growth of an Isolated Elk Population

This paper reports on the growth of an isolated elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) population that became established naturally in a large block of shrub-steppe habitat in eastern Washington. Habitat quality in the area was high as was the potential for achieving maximum or near-maximum rates of sustained population growth. Nearly 20 years of trend data on the population yielded an overall rate of increase of 20% per year. A high annual survival (0.98) was calculated. An initially high calf-cow ratio was reduced in later years of the study, but causes could not be determined. The reproductive and survival data indicate a maximum rate of increase of 24% per year, and the data were used to show that a feasible maximum sustainable rate for elk may be as high as 28%.