Terrestrial Ecosystems
Terrestrial Ecosystems
The Northern Rockies are blessed with an abundance of plant and animal species that have remained relatively intact since the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 19th century. Expanding energy development, increasing human population pressures, and the continued demand on global water resources make the management of wildlife more complicated than ever. NOROCK works collaboratively with partners to study key life history and habitat needs of these species.
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USGS Chronic Wasting Disease Research at NOROCK
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a growing management issue in the U.S. and has been detected in 36 states as of April 2025, including many western states. There is no cure or vaccine for CWD, and the disease threatens economically important animals like elk and deer. NOROCK scientists have taken a multi-pronged approach to develop actionable science including 1) evaluating CWD management options...
USGS Chronic Wasting Disease Research at the National Elk Refuge
Over the past 20 years, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wyoming has been spreading slowly outward from the southeastern corner of the state into the Greater Yellowstone Area and Wyoming's elk feed grounds. CWD detections have been getting closer to the National Elk Refuge, which provides supplemental feeding to approximately 8,000 elk and 500 bison each winter. NOROCK scientists have been...
The influence of natural mineral licks on wildlife disease dynamics
Some locations on the landscape can aggregate animals of multiple species and could become hotspots of disease transmission. One example of this are areas of localized concentrations of minerals that animals like deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and mountain goats use and diseases like chronic wasting disease or respiratory diseases could spread among or within species who use natural mineral licks...
Brucellosis
Brucellosis is a nationally and internationally regulated disease of livestock with significant consequences for animal health, public health, and international trade. NOROCK provides science based on an interdisciplinary approach to several key aspects: 1) estimating and modeling disease dynamics within and among wildlife species and populations, 2) identifying risks to cattle, and 3) assessing...
Developing Tools to Evaluate Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission Risk
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) infects and kills ungulates (deer, elk, moose), and has been spreading across North America for the past 20 years. Some ungulate populations have declined because of CWD and there are no viable vaccines or treatments for this disease. Therefore, tools that assist wildlife managers in preventing and mitigating CWD can be powerful assets in protecting our nation’s big...
Predicting the effects of supplemental feeding and chronic wasting disease in Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem elk
To support management decisions concerning 500 bison and 8,000 elk in Jackson, Wyoming, USGS scientists assessed how alternative U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans for providing supplemental food would influence: 1) chronic wasting disease prevalence, 2) elk and bison numbers, 3) wildlife movement and human-wildlife conflict 4) multiple use opportunities for the public, like hunting, and 5)...
Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat Research in Western National Park Units
Mountain goat and bighorn sheep are iconic symbols of many national lands in the West. Both species have limited distributions that can be difficult to observe and face multiple stressors including disease, increasing recreation in remote areas, and shifting weather regimes that influence their forage and thermoregulation. As species with relatively small population sizes, understanding...
North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)
North American bats face unprecedented threats including habitat loss and fragmentation, white-nose syndrome, wind energy development, and climate change. However, it is difficult to evaluate the impacts of these threats due to a lack of basic information about the distribution and abundance of bats across the continent. Although bat monitoring has long been conducted in individual areas and for...
Using Pollinator Environmental DNA to Assess the Ecological Resilience of America’s Grasslands
Scientists from six USGS science centers are collaborating with USDA, university, and Tribal partners, and Department of the Interior land managers, to assess the status of pollinator communities and the distribution of species of conservation concern using environmental DNA. These methods will be used to improve assessments of habitat quality and pollinator responses to restoration, including...
By
Species Management Research Program, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Pacific Northwest Environmental DNA Laboratory
USGS research on the effects of renewable energy on wildlife
Renewable energy development, such as solar and wind energy, is growing in the United States and is expected to continue expanding for the foreseeable future. However, renewable energy infrastructure can be a risk to some wildlife including threatened and endangered species. Wildlife managers and energy developers need wildlife risks to be assessed and effective strategies to mitigate those risks...
Opportunities at NOROCK
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Evaluating Transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease in the Environment
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal disease of deer, elk, and moose and has been spreading in North America for the past two decades. The disease is spread by infected body fluids. Animals can become infected by coming into direct contact with a CWD-infected animal, or an infected animal can leave behind fluids (e.g., saliva, urine) that an uninfected animal will come into contact later...