User Guidelines for Westside Elk Nutrition and Habitat-use Models

Scientists from State, Federal, private, and tribal entities developed two predictive models – nutrition and habitat use - tailored for management application on elk (Cervus canadensis) summer range inwestern Oregon and western Washington. The models provide managers with user-friendly tools to evaluate nutritional and habitat conditions for elk at landscape scales commensurate with all-lands management. Model users can not only quantify current nutritional conditions and predicted habitat use by elk in summer, but also evaluate effects of proposed management actions, such as thinning or road closures, on elk habitat and distributions. The nutrition and habitat-use models are combined in a single ArcGIS toolbox for streamlined application. These guidelines provide descriptions of the models
and steps for (1) selecting appropriate regional and local analysis areas, (2) preparing input data, and (3) applying the models using ArcGIS software. The guidelines also describe the parameters and processes required for each of the four tools embedded within the toolbox and provide examples of data summaries for model outputs. This version is designed for U.S. Forest Service (FS) model users operating in the Citrix environment as well as FS- and non-FS users operating in a desktop ArcGIS environment.