1936] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 



79 



eluding the 8 calves born that spring. Later the herd was reported 

 as rapidly increasing, and in 1917 some of these were captured and 

 transported to the Cascade Range and liberated near Crater Lake 

 Reserve. Later reports have shown that the elk are increasing in 

 the Blue Mountain forests. In 1915 Jewett reported quite a band 

 ranging over the region of Meadow Creek on the Whitman National 

 Forest, where miners and sheepmen estimated their numbers at 50 

 or more. The same year Peck reported elk signs frequent in the 

 Canadian Zone in Baker County between the Beaver Meadows and 

 the head of Anthony Creek, and farther west elk were reported 

 spreading through the lodgepole pine .forests west of the Grand Konde 

 Valley, and farther south about the headwaters of the John Day 

 River. The Oregon Sportsman for April 1915 reported 37 elk in 

 the Billy Meadows pasture and an estimate of 265 in Wallowa 

 County. In 1916, 56, including 17 calves, were reported in the Billy 

 Meadows pasture, 110 in Umatilla County, and 175 in Union County. 

 In 1918, 74 were reported in the Billy Meadows pasture. 



Table 10 shows the number of elk on the national forests since 

 1926, according to the estimates of the Forest Service. Most of these 

 may be considered Rocky Mountain elk from introduced stock but 

 may include some Roosevelt's elk from native stock on the west slope 

 of the Cascades. The totals indicate a steady increase in numbers. 



TABLE 10. Elk on national forests in Oregon 



[Data from estimates by U. S. Forest Service] 



CERVUS CANADENSIS NELSONI 



CERVUS CANADENSIS ROOSEVELTI 



1 No estimate available. 



2 Santiam and Cascade Forests now consolidated in Willamette National Forest. 

 5 Formerly Crater. 



NOTE. No estimates available for 1927 or 1928. 



General habits. The range of the elk of the Blue Mountain sec- 

 tion is apparently continuous with the Rocky Mountain form to 

 which the name Cervus canadensis has been generally applied. Ap- 

 parently their habits are the same, as they occupy typical Rocky 

 Mountain forest country, moving up with the snow banks to the 



