Helping Elk
Travelers who take the Trans-Canada Highway through Yoho National Park in British Columbia see a huge white elk along the highway. It isn't an albino elk; it's a sign to alert drivers of elk near the road. Eric Langshaw made the sign because so many elk were being killed by cars each winter. Now his idea has spread to other parks in Canada and the United States -- a great example of how one person can make a big difference.
Other Ways To Help Elk -- Protect and improve habitat:
- Participate in planning of resource use or development to ensure protection for elk and other wildlife;
- Plant grass, forbs and shrubs that elk eat;
- Provide water in arid locations; and
- Raise money to help state agencies and nonprofit groups like the RMEF protect land.
Reduce other dangers:
- Prevent domestic dogs from roaming;
- Inform friends and family about activities that disturb elk;
- Help ranchers and farmers modify fences to reduce injury to elk by covering barbed wire with old water hose or replacing the top strand with smooth wire or poles, raising the bottom wire so elk can crawl under, or lowering the top wire so elk can jump over; and
- Encourage ranchers and other range users to install "let-down" fences that allow elk passage when cattle are off the range.