ELLENSBURG - Elk numbers in the Colockum area are strong, even after last year's wildfire.

An aerial survey in the Colockum Tarps Fire area March 24-25 found 6,018 elk, well above biologists' goal of a 4,500 herd and about 300 higher than last year's count, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The count was good news for wildlife biologists and hunters. More elk hunting permits will be available this year, and biologists concluded the herd is stronger than they expected with help from a somewhat mild winter and forage growth after the fire. The wildfire charred 126 square miles last summer.

William Moore, WDFW's assistant district wildlife biologist for Kittitas and Yakima counties, said the Colockum elk herd has been growing for several years.

"A lot of calves survived (this winter), numbers are up and that's good for the future of the herd," Moore said earlier this week. "The (aerial) survey and the technology helps us reduce any possible errors and gives us better, more accurate information on the herd's actual status."

The better the on-the-ground information is, the better the management decisions can be, he said.

Surveys by air

Anual aerial surveys of herd numbers became standard in about 2001, Moore said, allowing biologists to more clearly see herd strength from the air than from the ground.

"The elk are good at protecting themselves and hiding in cover," Moore said. "From the ground, from a vehicle, you miss a lot of them. From the air there's a much better view."

The Colockum herd is north of Interstate 90 is taking in easterly Kittitas County and a portion of Chelan County. The post-winter survey usually occurs in March, depending on the good flying weather.

Conditions this year didn't allow flights until near the end of March, Moorse said, with one day covering the Whiskey Dick and Quilomene state wildlife areas, and the other taking in the Colockum wildlife area and some private lands.

Pilot Anthony Root of Central Valley Helicopters flew out of a site within Puget Sound Energy's Wild Horse Wind and Solar Energy Facility the first day, and the second day from the Crescent Bar resort on the east side of the Columbia River.

Moore said the helicopter takes a primary survey-or, in this case himself, and another surveyor mainly responsible for recording data.

Moore said in the two days of flying six, two-hour-plus flights were logged, flying at different times between more than 150 feet to about 500 feet.

Central Washington University graduate student Lewis Meyers, WDFW district wildlife biologist Jeff Bernatowicz and WDFW habitat biologist William Meyer assisted with the flights.

Counting elk

Moore said visual estimates of elk numbers are recorded, along with their location and time and date, using Global Positioning Satellite information. The helicopter pilot also uses his GPS geographic tracking equipment to record the exact flight path of the helicopter, time and date.

For larger herds, some as high as the 500-plus range, digital photos are taken and later blown up and examined to get a close count and make up of the group, including number of calves, cows and bulls. The close look also tells biologists how many bulls are legal to be hunted.

"With smaller groups it's easier to count them, depending on the geography. We need a good side view to get the herd make up; with the helicopter coming over them, the noise, they don't often want to give us that good view," Moore said with a laugh. "In that way they're not cooperative."

Moore said the two days of flights covered the entire Colockum survey area, with the GPS tracking data making sure they don't count from the same location twice.

The flights can be physically demanding, so personnel helping with recording data and taking photos are rotated.

The data from the overflights has also led biologists to begin a three-year study into the survival of adult bulls in the herd. More of the older bulls are needed, and researchers last fall and in February captured and put radio telemetry collars on 27 bulls in the herd.