When we first got to Point Reyes We gathered to listen to a Ranger Wild life biologist Dave. He was very supportive of the research and restoration that was happening at point Reyes and he was a key part in making it all happen. The ranger began our discussion by talking about the Elk and about how he became wildlife biologist. He also talked briefly about Elk exposure experiment that they are currently doing. The ranger grew up in the area and did his undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz. He really enjoyed the Santa Cruz Field Classes and began to do Elephant seal monitoring. He then got involved with a wild life team monitoring seals and he began examining salon bearing. His team and himself would traverse rivers counting salon and trout. He then applied and attended UC Davis for a masters ecology program. This program was fairly routed in marine biology. He worked with another member of the UC Davis team and listed endangered species and dealt with  Any wildlife issues that floated his way. Some of these issues had to do with spotted owls and establishing long-term wild life survey systems with cameras to record information on them and watch their long-term trends over time. 

            He then talked to us about the  repopulation of Tollie elk that was initially

one heard of 10 left. Tollie Elk is a subspecies of elk and is endemic to California. The Tollie Elk subspecies was thought to be extinct but a remnant heard survived the gold rush. There were 10 surviving Tollie Elk that were found on private property. The state then worked with ecologists to protect Tollie elk and made it illegal to hunt them until there were 2000 alive. Complimentary language was passed in congress to provide federal aid for potential restoration sites to reintegrate the elk. Pont rays was a chosen location to protect the heard. The Heard is contained with a 26,000 acres space and kept in with tall elk fencing,

 In this class we learned allot about the landscape, this history of point Reys, and some of the key issues that the park service is currently facing when dealing with  Elk population. Dave also talked in ddepth about how successful the Elk reintroduction has been. The Elk population has risen so drastically that contraceptive techniques were used to slow down their exponential growth. It has been determined that the Tomales point can hold roughly 480 Elk which was more than originally expected.

One of the most significant things we learned about was an experiment that was initially abandoned but has been brought back to life by Sonoma State Grad students. The experiment fenced off sections of land to find out what the landscape would be like if there wasn't any elk grazing on it. This study gathered information on the impacts of the Tule Elk on the landscape, and animals and plant populations within i. 

Ranger Dave talked about how important it is for elk antlers to be deteriorated and the nutrients returned back into the ecosystem. He told us that people come out the preserve to collect the Antlers
that have fallen off elk. Dave told us this has negative impacts on the ecosystem because so much nutrients go into the development of the antlers  that these nutrients need to be returned back to the soil. To make sure no one steals antlers the rangers collect them run them through a wood shipper and spread them out through the preserve.

one heard of 24 left. Tollie Elk is a subspecies of elk and is endemic to California. The Tollie Elk subspecies was thought to be extinct but a remnant heard survived the gold rush. There were 10 surviving Tollie Elk that were found on private property. The state then worked with ecologists to protect Tollie elk and made it illegal to hunt them until there were 2000 alive. Complimentary language was passed in congress to provide federal aid for potential restoration sites to reintegrate the elk. Pont rays was a chosen location to protect the heard. The Heard is contained with a 26,000 acres space and kept in with tall elk fencing,