Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are sometimes located in close proximity to fresh produce fields, both of which serve as easily accessible food and water sources for wild birds. When birds travel between these two areas, they have the potential to transfer pathogens from cattle, a documented source of enteric zoonotic foodborne pathogens, to fresh produce crops through fecal deposition. However, the presence of pathogens in wild birds is not a risk unless the birds or their fecal material come into contact with fresh produce crops. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if birds visiting CAFOs use flyways that cross fresh produce fields, thereby increasing the risk for contaminating fresh produce intended for human consumption. During 2014, birds trapped at a CAFO in southern Arizona were fitted with Lotek nano-coded radiotransmitters. Two receivers were placed at the CAFO and two receivers were placed in nearby fresh produce fields. A total of 103 birds were fitted with radiotransmitters, including 66 red-winged blackbirds, 21 Eurasian collared doves, 11 brown-headed cowbirds, four common ravens, and one European starling. Over four million data points were collected indicating the date, time, and bird ID number for each time a bird was recorded within 1 km of a receiver. Radiotelemetry results showed that birds travel regularly between the CAFO and fresh produce fields. Using PCR and culture techniques, 2 (1.9%) birds tested positive for Salmonella, and 5 (4.9%) tested positive for non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). During the same time period, Salmonella (4%), STEC O157 (16%), and non-O157 STEC (44.5%) were detected in 400 cattle fecal samples from the CAFO. Our results will aid in determining the pathogen risks that birds pose to fresh produce when they are frequent visitors to a CAFO and fresh produce fields.

Precise abundance estimates of large mammals are important for effective conservation, harvest, and conflict management.Determining abundance of wide-ranging, herding ungulate species has presented a unique challenge to wildlife managers because of factors such as dense forest, elusive behavior, and heterogeneity in density across the landscape. Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) populations in Northern California, USA, are no exception to these challenges, and as the elk population has grown, so has human-wildlife conflict, necessitating the need for efficient and repeatable methods to determine population abundance for management decisions. We explored non-invasive genetic sampling combined with spatial capture-recapture (SCR) as an alternative for monitoring populations that are difficult to observe directly. We combined an SCR model with a binomial point process and an unstructured single survey search method to estimate elk abundance in Northern California via Bayesian inference. We searched open grassy hillsides for female-calf groups and used a detection dog team to search forested areas to increase the number of detections of males and other solitary individuals. For the SCR analysis, we used sex and survey effort as detection covariates, and used a trap-level random effect to account for overdispersion in the count data from the herding behavior of elk. Our population estimate (N ± SD) for the study area was 618 ± 36.34 individuals (95% Bayesian credible interval = 551-693) with a mean density of

For wildlife managers, identifying the time and location of ungulate parturition events is necessary to protect parturition habitat and inform population models. Current methods for identifying parturition events include neonatal capture and monitoring and visual analysis of location data, which are resource intensive and subject to biases. Recently, movement‐based analyses using the spatial and temporal patterns contained in location data have shown promise for identifying parturition behavior; however, questions regarding efficacy and best practice have limited the adoption of such movement‐based parturition models into management programs. We used location data collected between 2017−2018 from a California population of female Roosevelt elk with known parturition status to build a set of movement‐based models. We compared each model's ability to accurately classify individual's parturition status and identify the timing of parturition. The top model showed that within 72 hours of a parturition event, elk made smaller movements, had smaller home ranges, and had longer visits to individual locations. Of the 16 individuals in our study with known parturition status, our approach to classifying an individual's status was 81% accurate in cross‐validation, which increased to 100% accuracy when the complete dataset was used to train the top model. We then used the top, global and single‐metric models to establish probability thresholds and identify parturition events for collared‐elk with unknown parturition status. Our results align with a growing number of studies that have shown movement‐based parturition models are a reliable method that could augment or replace field‐based techniques for identifying parturition events and quantifying parturition rates in ungulate populations.

Roosevelt elk (Cervus canadensis roosevelti) have historically populated the Pacific Northwest from the Olympic Peninsula to the south of San Francisco Bay, and several management actions have supported restoring elk into parts of this historic range. In 1982, 17 Roosevelt elk were translocated from Gold Bluffs Beach State Park to Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. In 2020, the Sinkyone elk herd was observed to have lower body condition scores and poor coat conditions in comparison to the Gold Bluffs Beach elk herd. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the difference in health between the two herds. Fecal samples were collected (n = 20) from each herd to measure species richness and abundance of parasites. We determined there was a significant difference in species richness and abundance of parasite eggs between the two herds. The Sinkyone herd's overall higher endoparasite load may be attributed to a low immune response due to low nutrition but, causation is unknown.

The statewide management plan discusses methods of assessing population viability. The Department is committed to funding and staffing actions to achieve the goals of the EMU plans. The Department recognizes that some of its proposed activities and species management plans may adversely affect the interests of California Tribes. The Department is committed to consulting with Tribes on fish, wildlife and plant issues, and assessing and avoiding to the extent possible adverse impacts of Department activities on tribal interests. The Department and Tribes share authority to regulate the take of elk as they move across the landscape and jurisdictional boundaries. The Department possesses regulatory authority within state boundaries and Tribes possess regulatory authority within tribal land. A Tribe maintains inherent power to regulate the take of elk by its members within its reservation. (New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe (1983) 462 U. S. 324, 332, 335). Application of the FGC to a Tribe and its members within that Tribe's reservation is limited (FGC §12300).The Department may not enforce its elk regulations against tribal members within their Tribe's reservation when doing so is preempted by federal law or would infringe on the right of self-government.Moreover, the Department is committed to providing meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making processes that affect tribal interests.