| Tule elk are an iconic subspecies endemic to the warm, dry climate of the Central Valley in California. After experiencing a population bottleneck of <10 individuals in the late 19th century, their populations have steadily grown since widespread reintroduction efforts began in the 1970s. Little research has been done into tule elk habitat selection, nor made use of GPS-collar technology and our improved understanding of resource selection modeling. I used location data collected between 2005-2017 from GPS-collared tule elk located in and around the Carrizo Plain National Monument to model the way elk respond to different environmental factors. I related their locations to a variety of covariates including: vegetation type, vegetation structure, topography, grazing allotments, solar farm installations, distance to roads, and distance to water. I compared use locations to available locations at the local and landscape scale. My results will help managers address questions regarding spatial ecology of tule elk and act as a blueprint for answering similar questions for other understudied elk populations.
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