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New study explores elk feedgrounds
By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau
COURTESY/Wyoming Game and Fish Department
High concentrations of elk at the state's 22 feedgrounds cause problems with disease transmission, one of the issues explored in a new Game and Fish Department study.
Feedground facts
* The National Elk Refuge was the first elk feedground created in Wyoming in 1912. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
* The Wyoming Game and Fish Department manages 22 elk feedgrounds in Teton, Lincoln and Sublette counties.
* In 2004, the annual cost to the Game and Fish Department for managing its entire feedground program was about $1.3 million.
* Annually, the number of elk fed on all 22 feedgrounds (not including the National Elk Refuge) since 1975 is about 13,000.
* Over the past 27 winters, an average of 20,500 elk (including the refuge) per year have been provided supplemental winter feed.
* The highest number recorded since 1975 was during the winter of 1988-89, when 16,967 elk were fed. The lowest number of elk on the feedgrounds occurred during the winter of 1976-77, when only 4,964 elk were fed.
* Elk are typically fed with teams of draft horses and sleighs. Elk are fed seven days a week, with most supplemental feeding beginning in late November and ending in mid-April.
* Individual elk are fed between 8 and 10 pounds of hay per day, and each consumes about a half-ton of hay per year.
* Small, square bales of grass or alfalfa hay are generally used. Game and Fish buys between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of certified weed-free hay annually.
* The department began vaccinating elk for the disease brucellosis in 1985 at the Greys River feedground. The agency now vaccinates elk on 21 of the 22 feedgrounds. The department maintains the Dell Creek feedground as an unvaccinated control with which to compare the effectiveness of the vaccine.
* Nearly 62,000 doses of the vaccine known as Strain 19 have been administered to feedground elk.
Source: Game and Fish Department study, "Elk Feedgrounds in Wyoming"
GREEN RIVER -- It started out as a simple idea.
Early settlers in western Wyoming were concerned about elk starving during harsh winters and raiding ranchers' haystacks. While they didn't want to see elk die, at the same time they could not afford to lose precious hay needed to carry livestock through the winter.
The obvious solution was to create areas where elk could be fed, thus avoiding large scale die-offs while keeping the animals out of haystacks. But early wildlife managers did not foresee the problems elk feedgrounds would create.
The establishment of the state's 22 elk feedgrounds in western Wyoming addressed elk mortality and damage to hay crops, but it also exacerbated the problem of disease transmission.
What started as a logical solution to a real problem has now become one of Wyoming's most complex and controversial wildlife management challenges of the 21st century.
The fate of feedgrounds is now being debated in Wyoming's public realm.
Some conservationists see feedgrounds as disease hotbeds and are urging the Game and Fish Department to consider closing some feedgrounds. But feedground supporters say closures would most likely lead to increased transmission of disease to cattle as elk move off the feedgrounds and onto nearby private lands.
Feedground management practices are being revisited by a variety of groups, including the Game and Fish Department and the governor's task force on brucellosis issues.
Game and Fish biologists say a new feedground study released last week for public review should provide timely and important information to help frame the issues in those debates.
The report -- titled "Elk Feedgrounds in Wyoming" -- was written by various Game and Fish veterinarians, biologists and wardens. The report was compiled by Jackson Region Information and Education Specialist Mark Gocke.
Gocke said there's been a lot of misinformation and misconception about feedgrounds in the past, which prompted the agency to conduct the study.
He said the practice of providing supplemental feed for western Wyoming elk during the winter has been the center of countless working groups, public forums, media stories and street corner debates in recent months.
"There have been volumes written on the various issues involving elk feedgrounds over the years... This was not intended to cover every aspect of every issue, but rather to provide a well-rounded discussion on the topic as a whole," Gocke said.
"The purpose was simply to provide key, factual information on what we believe to be the most important issues" surrounding feedgrounds, he said.
Gocke said the study provides a thorough history on the implementation of feedgrounds, describes the current management practices and outlines the department's efforts to address elk damage and diseases such as brucellosis and chronic wasting disease.
Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort their first calves and can cause undulant fever in humans in rare instances.
The state has had five brucellosis outbreaks in cattle in the past year, which caused the state to lose its brucellosis-free status in February. Many elk and bison in the greater Yellowstone area are believed to be infected with brucellosis and are alleged to be the source of the livestock infections.
Gocke said the study explains the department's brucellosis vaccination program for elk on the feedgrounds and the disease's effect on Wyoming's cattle industry.
"Anyone interested in elk management in northwestern Wyoming should give (the report) a read," he said.
"The issue of feedgrounds will continue to be discussed, both publicly an privately for years to come," Gocke said. "This paper will serve as a good resource to help citizens make their own informed opinions on the topic."
The paper can be viewed on the department Web site, (http://gf.state.wy.us/downloads/pdf/elkfg83004.pdf).
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at [email protected].
By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau
COURTESY/Wyoming Game and Fish Department
High concentrations of elk at the state's 22 feedgrounds cause problems with disease transmission, one of the issues explored in a new Game and Fish Department study.
Feedground facts
* The National Elk Refuge was the first elk feedground created in Wyoming in 1912. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
* The Wyoming Game and Fish Department manages 22 elk feedgrounds in Teton, Lincoln and Sublette counties.
* In 2004, the annual cost to the Game and Fish Department for managing its entire feedground program was about $1.3 million.
* Annually, the number of elk fed on all 22 feedgrounds (not including the National Elk Refuge) since 1975 is about 13,000.
* Over the past 27 winters, an average of 20,500 elk (including the refuge) per year have been provided supplemental winter feed.
* The highest number recorded since 1975 was during the winter of 1988-89, when 16,967 elk were fed. The lowest number of elk on the feedgrounds occurred during the winter of 1976-77, when only 4,964 elk were fed.
* Elk are typically fed with teams of draft horses and sleighs. Elk are fed seven days a week, with most supplemental feeding beginning in late November and ending in mid-April.
* Individual elk are fed between 8 and 10 pounds of hay per day, and each consumes about a half-ton of hay per year.
* Small, square bales of grass or alfalfa hay are generally used. Game and Fish buys between 6,000 and 9,000 tons of certified weed-free hay annually.
* The department began vaccinating elk for the disease brucellosis in 1985 at the Greys River feedground. The agency now vaccinates elk on 21 of the 22 feedgrounds. The department maintains the Dell Creek feedground as an unvaccinated control with which to compare the effectiveness of the vaccine.
* Nearly 62,000 doses of the vaccine known as Strain 19 have been administered to feedground elk.
Source: Game and Fish Department study, "Elk Feedgrounds in Wyoming"
GREEN RIVER -- It started out as a simple idea.
Early settlers in western Wyoming were concerned about elk starving during harsh winters and raiding ranchers' haystacks. While they didn't want to see elk die, at the same time they could not afford to lose precious hay needed to carry livestock through the winter.
The obvious solution was to create areas where elk could be fed, thus avoiding large scale die-offs while keeping the animals out of haystacks. But early wildlife managers did not foresee the problems elk feedgrounds would create.
The establishment of the state's 22 elk feedgrounds in western Wyoming addressed elk mortality and damage to hay crops, but it also exacerbated the problem of disease transmission.
What started as a logical solution to a real problem has now become one of Wyoming's most complex and controversial wildlife management challenges of the 21st century.
The fate of feedgrounds is now being debated in Wyoming's public realm.
Some conservationists see feedgrounds as disease hotbeds and are urging the Game and Fish Department to consider closing some feedgrounds. But feedground supporters say closures would most likely lead to increased transmission of disease to cattle as elk move off the feedgrounds and onto nearby private lands.
Feedground management practices are being revisited by a variety of groups, including the Game and Fish Department and the governor's task force on brucellosis issues.
Game and Fish biologists say a new feedground study released last week for public review should provide timely and important information to help frame the issues in those debates.
The report -- titled "Elk Feedgrounds in Wyoming" -- was written by various Game and Fish veterinarians, biologists and wardens. The report was compiled by Jackson Region Information and Education Specialist Mark Gocke.
Gocke said there's been a lot of misinformation and misconception about feedgrounds in the past, which prompted the agency to conduct the study.
He said the practice of providing supplemental feed for western Wyoming elk during the winter has been the center of countless working groups, public forums, media stories and street corner debates in recent months.
"There have been volumes written on the various issues involving elk feedgrounds over the years... This was not intended to cover every aspect of every issue, but rather to provide a well-rounded discussion on the topic as a whole," Gocke said.
"The purpose was simply to provide key, factual information on what we believe to be the most important issues" surrounding feedgrounds, he said.
Gocke said the study provides a thorough history on the implementation of feedgrounds, describes the current management practices and outlines the department's efforts to address elk damage and diseases such as brucellosis and chronic wasting disease.
Brucellosis can cause cattle to abort their first calves and can cause undulant fever in humans in rare instances.
The state has had five brucellosis outbreaks in cattle in the past year, which caused the state to lose its brucellosis-free status in February. Many elk and bison in the greater Yellowstone area are believed to be infected with brucellosis and are alleged to be the source of the livestock infections.
Gocke said the study explains the department's brucellosis vaccination program for elk on the feedgrounds and the disease's effect on Wyoming's cattle industry.
"Anyone interested in elk management in northwestern Wyoming should give (the report) a read," he said.
"The issue of feedgrounds will continue to be discussed, both publicly an privately for years to come," Gocke said. "This paper will serve as a good resource to help citizens make their own informed opinions on the topic."
The paper can be viewed on the department Web site, (http://gf.state.wy.us/downloads/pdf/elkfg83004.pdf).
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at [email protected].
