Gates of the Arctic

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve Photo by Andy Greenblatt Keeping Tabs on Caribou and Moose Populations Ten additional GPS-satellite radio-collars were deployed on Western Arctic Herd (WAH) caribou. The collars provide biologists with the locations of these caribou every 8 hours, 365 days a year—over 170,000 locations so far— enabling biologists to track the migration and distribution of caribou throughout the year. Moose Project Nearing Completion The fieldwork for a multi-agency project involving NPS, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game is complete. About 70 collars were deployed on bull and cow moose from the southern end of Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge to Sukakpak Mountain. The moose were located by aircraft monthly; about 30 moose had GPS collars that recorded their positions every 8 hours. Most of the collars on moose in the park have been removed. The project’s goals are to increase our understanding of the distribution, movements, A number of new caribou-related projects have recently been initiated, including an analysis of potential impacts of the proposed Ambler Road and the Red Dog Road, investigating summer range quality and quantity, a traditional ecological knowledge survey, and a sport hunter survey. Check out the WAH Working Group’s webpage at: www.westernarcticcaribou.org Photo by Jimmy Fox Caribou Monitoring Continues habitat usage, and survival and twinning rates of this population. We are currently analyzing the data and hope to report results next year. Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve For more information about the caribou or moose projects, contact Wildlife Biologist Kyle Joly at (907) 455-0626 or email him at Kyle_Joly@nps.gov. EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™