Ep 18 - Elk responses to trail-based recreation

This week we are excited to have Brittney Parker from BHA join us to talk about the ways recreationists impact wildlife in the outdoors. Britt has spent a lot of time thinking about this topic and wrote up a great article on it that you can find at this link. As the human population grows and more people access public lands, recreational trails will see more use and become more present on the natural landscape. But what does that mean for the wildlife that depend on those places? We dive into a study by Michael Wisdom and colleagues that assessed how elk in Oregon respond to four types of recreation: ATVs, mountain bikes, hikers, and horseback riders. As you’d probably expect, elk aren’t too happy when people are in the woods with them. We consider how all outdoor recreationists, not just hunters, impact wildlife and discuss ways we as outdoors enthusiasts may be able to minimize that impact. Enjoy the episode!You can read the full paper by Michael Wisdom at this link