PINEDALE (AP) - Eliminating state-run elk feedgrounds might cause more problems than it cures, according to experts who spoke at a forum sponsored by a government group looking to eliminate brucellosis in cattle and wildlife.
The forum focused on how feedgrounds help elk survive the winter and what alternatives might prevent forcing the game animals onto private lands should feedgrounds be eliminated.
The future of feedgrounds came to the fore after discovery in November that a cattle herd adjacent to a feedground was infected with brucellosis, which can cause domestic cattle to abort.
That discovery cost Wyoming its federal brucellosis-free status for at least a year, forcing ranchers to undertake laborious and expensive testing of cattle before selling them.
Barry Reiswig, manager of the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, said the Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee has been slow to respond, and he called on the governor's task force on brucellosis to "step out and make the decisions that need to be made" to control the disease in Wyoming.
"Those are not going to be easy … but down the road, I think people will thank you," said Reiswig, who later said he was not specifically calling for an end to feedgrounds but hopes ideas such as paying property owners to let elk winter on their land are considered.
Hunters and ranchers support feedgrounds because they prevent mass starvation, keep elk from eating feed intended for cattle, and prevent elk from commingling with cattle.
Opponents say elk tend to cluster unnaturally on feedgrounds, allowing brucellosis or other diseases to spread much more rapidly.
The forum was held Wednesday after the committee wrapped up a day and a half of meetings that focused primarily on adjusting legal language in the group's guiding principles and updates on scientific studies.
Reiswig was asked whether Gov. Dave Freudenthal's brucellosis task force can accomplish what the interagency committee has not in the past 10 years.
"God, yes," he said. "Unfortunately, it's been mostly rhetoric, posturing. It's been very disappointing."
Reiswig specifically called for an end to using vaccines that don't work, and more cooperation from people on different sides of the debate.
In response to discovery of the disease at a Boulder ranch, Freudenthal appointed a 19-member task force, with a scientific support team, to recommend a long-term solution.
"Our job is to consider various bold proposals and give (options) to the governor to consider," said Frank Galey, dean of the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture.
Elk on feedgrounds are far more likely to be infected with brucellosis than elk in the wild, according to Brendan Scurlock, brucellosis biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in Pinedale.
Because feedgrounds allow elk to thrive, their numbers have increased to the point that simply calling a halt to feeding could unleash a flood of elk onto private grazing lands in the winter.
"Any abrupt change to feedgrounds could have severe consequences for ranchers due to elk moving onto cattle feedlines," warned Wyoming State Veterinarian Jim Logan in a written introduction to the forum.
One way to move elk off feedgrounds without pushing them onto private lands is to improve native habitat. Another is to increase the number of elk killed by hunters to reduce the population.
As many as 16,000 elk are fed on feedgrounds in western Wyoming while as many as 4,000 elk winter entirely on native ranges, state feedground manager Scott Werbelow said. It costs about $1.3 million to run the feeding program.
Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said he too is frustrated at the pace of Greater Yellowstone Interagency Brucellosis Committee though he would rather not see an end to feedgrounds.
Eliminating feedgrounds creates more problems than it solves, he said, adding that he prefers a more intensive vaccination program.
