Elk Forced To Feed

Sun., March 2, 1997

Associated Press

Wildlife

In 1913, sportsmen and county officials brought Rocky Mountain elk from Yellowstone National Park to Yakima County.

The winter-feeding program for the Yakima elk herd began after a 100-mile-long, 8-foot-high fence from south of Yakima to near Ellensburg was built in the mid 1940s to protect orchards and crops.

The fence also reduced the amount of winter forage available to the elk.

Washington Fish and Wildlife Department have had to feed many elk that might have found their own food on winter ranges that are now developed.

This year the cost is extraordinary.

Feeding costs, including trucking, have been running about $60,000 to $80,000 a month. About 9,000 elk are being fed in the Kittitas and Yakima areas.

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