Elk herd in danger if not fed

LANDER, Wyo. – Jackson Hole’s elk population would drop by 7,000 if wildlife officials stopped giving them supplemental feed, a new report says.

“These elk (if not fed) will disperse to private lands … and because there is no other way to control those elk, they will be killed because of the brucellosis risk or to prevent damage to private lands,” Garvice Roby told the governor’s brucellosis task force during a meeting Friday.

The Jackson elk herd unit averages 15,000 to 17,000 animals. About 6,000 elk in the herd spent parts of last winter on National Elk Refuge feed grounds north of Jackson.

“Significant curtailing (of) or eliminating elk feeding in the unit would likely precipitate a substantial die-off of wintering elk or require the Game and Fish (Department) to cull the herd,” Roby said. “And elk-trend data clearly show that habitat-improvement projects will not maintain (current) elk numbers,” said Roby, a retired longtime Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife biologist.

Roby presented his report, “Ramifications of Reduction or Elimination of Feeding on the Elk of Jackson Hole,” which was commissioned by Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife of Wyoming.

The report speculated what might happen if feeding were terminated or reduced on the National Elk Refuge and on three agency feed grounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage. The report focused on the department’s elk hunt Area 80.