Wyoming feed grounds for elk in peril

[Thx1138]

Fewer elk. Sicker elk. That’s what the experts expect if Wyoming keeps on feeding.​

The projections of eight biologists — including three employed by Game and Fish — paint a dire picture of shrinking, CWD-riddled elk herds on the eve of the state’s first-ever elk feedground management plan.

This needs to be watched closely. You can’t just stop after 75+ years of feeding them.

Fewer elk. Sicker elk. That’s what the experts expect if Wyoming keeps on feeding. - WyoFile

The projections of eight biologists — including three employed by Game and Fish — paint a dire picture of shrinking, CWD-riddled elk herds on the eve of the state’s first-ever elk feedground management plan.

wyofile.com

 

[COEngineer]

Fewer elk. Sicker elk. That’s what the experts expect if Wyoming keeps on feeding.​

The projections of eight biologists — including three employed by Game and Fish — paint a dire picture of shrinking, CWD-riddled elk herds on the eve of the state’s first-ever elk feedground management plan.

This needs to be watched closely. You can’t just stop after 75+ years of feeding them.

Fewer elk. Sicker elk. That’s what the experts expect if Wyoming keeps on feeding. - WyoFile

The projections of eight biologists — including three employed by Game and Fish — paint a dire picture of shrinking, CWD-riddled elk herds on the eve of the state’s first-ever elk feedground management plan.

wyofile.com

Educate me. Why not? Fewer elk, but healthier overall seems like worst case.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Ok my opinion is that you can't in good conscience decide to just stop feeding regardless of conditions. They have become dependent. You need a few light winters to wean them off the tit. If they get hammered again and we don't feed. They may just stand on the feeding grounds until they drop. If they have a few light winters they will have some reasonable expectations of where to look for food.

 

[ccc23454]

Easy solution, bulldoze the airport and a bunch of those mansions. Remove the roads all the way up to the park entrance and return land to natural environment. You keep expanding into elk wintering habitat this is what happens, unless theres a better plan keep feeding! (-jacksons plan but rest of sites i have simular opinion)

 

[Schaaf]

Easy solution, bulldoze the airport and a bunch of those mansions. Remove the roads all the way up to the park entrance and return land to natural environment. You keep expanding into elk wintering habitat this is what happens, unless theres a better plan keep feeding! (-jacksons plan but rest of sites i have simular opinion)

Hell yes. All of Jackson except one Hunt Talkers place.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Easy solution, bulldoze the airport and a bunch of those mansions. Remove the roads all the way up to the park entrance and return land to natural environment. You keep expanding into elk wintering habitat this is what happens, unless theres a better plan keep feeding! (-jacksons plan but rest of sites i have simular opinion)

This and make it illegal to graze critical winter grounds to dust all summer.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Hell yes. All of Jackson except one Hunt Talkers place.

F-em right down to the snotty middle aged guy at the DQ drive through

 

[Deleted member 16014]

Hell yes. All of Jackson except one Hunt Talkers place.

But who then, pray tell, will make my lah-TAY?

 

[Schaaf]

But who then, pray tell, will make my lah-TAY?

Oh man, this is awkward. I was talking about Rob Shaul….

 

[Bluffgruff]

Sticky issue, but I'd say pull the bandaid. Elk will go find food. If I am condensing this correctly, feedgrounds were largely for reducing conflict with cattle/private lands, and only incidentally for keeping herds unnaturally large in the face of decreasing available habitat?

 

[Forkyfinder]

I hate to see this... Going to result in a lot of dead animals. The post above about the winter grazing being leased out to the dirt is what frustrates me most. Either feed them, or stop grazing the grass to the dirt.

 

[Sytes]

The saga continues:

CWD Discovered at Wyoming Elk Feedground, Raising More Concerns Over the State’s Supplemental Feeding Program

A dead cow elk at a Wyoming feedground tested positive for CWD, highlighting concerns around the state's supplemental feeding operations.

www.outdoorlife.com

The primary concern among biologists is that by concentrating so many animals in a small area, feedgrounds can increase the risk of disease transmission and speed up the rate at which CWD spreads in an elk herd. And because CWD prions can remain for long periods in the soil, the elk that return to the same feedgrounds year after year are more likely to be exposed.

USGS research published in 2023 supports these concerns, and suggests that if no changes are made, WGFD feedgrounds could contribute to CWD rates above 40 percent in certain areas. This could ultimately result in a reduction of the Afton, Fall Creek, Piney, Pinedale and Upper Green River herds by almost half. Experts concluded that ending supplemental winter feeding altogether would have the best long-term projected outcomes for Wyoming elk herds, and that even a three-year phaseout would have potentially dire consequences for the state’s elk population.