By Christina MacIntosh
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended that feeding continue on the National Elk Refuge.

On Friday, the agency published a draft Bison and Elk Management Plan centered around reducing reliance on feeding and decreasing the number of elk wintering on the refuge to 5,000 animals over the next decade.

About 7,500 elk typically winter on the refuge, according to the draft plan.

The agency also published a draft environmental impact statement on the plan, which explored three other alternatives. One was a “no action” alternative, which means business as usual.

Another unselected alternative was to reduce the number of elk wintering on the refuge to 5,000 over the next seven years and to cease feeding at that time. The agency would also stop feeding if chronic wasting disease — a highly contagious, always fatal malady — reached 3%.

A third tossed alternative was to provide enough feed for 5,000 elk over the next five years and then to end supplemental feeding altogether.

Wildlife managers selected the option of reducing, but not ending, feeding because it gives managers the “greatest flexibility,” according to an informational page. The plan balances wildlife conservation, hunting opportunities and impacts to local communities, according to the agency.

The National Elk Refuge did not respond to a request for comment by Jackson Hole Daily press time.

The Fish and Wildlife Service published the plan three years after announcing its intentions to revise its current guiding document, finalized in 2007. The agency began updating the plan to respond to several changes to elk population dynamics and the environment, including, notably, chronic wasting disease. This winter, wildlife managers detected the first and second cases of CWD on the refuge.

Feedgrounds are a political third rail in Wyoming. Wildlife and conservation advocates oppose feeding, due to concerns about wildlife health. Outfitters and ranchers support feeding, as it helps support larger herds and keeps elk off of private property.

“The best available science suggests that this disease will have significant negative effects on the Jackson elk herd over time, and that supplemental feeding will exacerbate these effects,” according to the draft plan.

Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, was unsurprised by the proposal.

“It’s a lot more of what they’ve already been doing, which we know is not working,” she said.

Dustin Stetter, president of the Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association, does not believe wildlife managers should reduce reliance on supplemental feed.

“If three elk die of CWD over the course of the winter, does that mean we need to kill 5,000 elk to prevent those three deaths?” he said. “I just don’t see a need to take a huge step.”

The public comment period will be open until Oct. 13. Comments can be emailed to nerbemp@fws.gov. The agency will hold two information sessions — an in-person session from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 and a virtual session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 15.

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