TERRY CLEVELAND

Perspective

First of two parts

I'll be the first to admit that elk feedgrounds in Wyoming pose a number of problems. But if the solution were as easy as ending feeding, it would have been done a long time ago.

Several groups, including Defenders of Wildlife, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, and Wyoming Outdoor Council, are trying to influence public opinion as they litigate to eliminate feeding of elk and bison on the National Elk Refuge. Some of those groups are also litigating to end state feeding on federal lands.

Based on recent information in the media, it appears they intend to use the specter of disease in general, and Chronic Wasting Disease specifically, to accomplish their goals. One of their ads warns: "Save our elk. We must phase out artificial feeding before it is too late."

In an ideal world, there would be no need to feed elk and bison. Wildlife managers began feeding elk in Jackson Hole almost 100 years ago, as the region's wintering habitat began disappearing. Feedgrounds helped minimize elk starvation during winter and prevented elk from foraging on stored hay on area ranches.

In the ensuing decades, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission created 22 feedgrounds in the deep snow country of western Wyoming to address the same issues, and the practice continues to this day.

The problems that necessitated elk feeding a century ago have not gone away. In fact, there is far less wintering habitat in northwest Wyoming than there ever has been. In short, there are very few places other than feedgrounds for elk to go in the winter. Some estimate that closing feedgrounds would lead to an eventual reduction of elk in this part of the state by 60 to 80 percent - a scenario that I'm sure Wyoming's public would never tolerate.

A century ago, many of today's wildlife disease issues were not recognized nor considered. Recently, brucellosis in northwest Wyoming's elk populations has forced wildlife managers to ensure there is minimal opportunity for the disease to be transmitted from elk to cattle. Feedgrounds help keep elk and cattle separated.

The advantages of feedgrounds, however, come with built-in disadvantages. Though feedgrounds help reduce the risk of brucellosis transmission from elk to cattle, by concentrating animals they can also increase the prevalence of diseases among herds of elk or bison that use those feedgrounds, though to what extent we do not accurately know.

Some would like you to believe that eliminating feedgrounds will result in the natural elimination of brucellosis in elk. Again, it's not that easy. The Game and Fish recently documented significant increases in brucellosis on the Absaroka front on the eastern side of the Yellowstone ecosystem, where there are no feedgrounds. With or without feedgrounds, it appears brucellosis will remain in elk in the region until we find better tools to eliminate the disease.

What about Chronic Wasting Disease? As the disease moves westward, it is safe to assume it may reach the Greater Yellowstone Area. There are currently no effective management strategies to prevent its spread. Will CWD in feedground elk result in catastrophic losses? Many who advocate closure of feedgrounds would like you to think so. But it's not that easy to predict what may happen.

Feedground opponents cite high rates of CWD in game farms, where captive elk are unnaturally congregated year-round. To assume similar rates of CWD in wild elk that visit feedgrounds in winter is an unscientific leap of logic. In all cases of CWD in game farm elk, the entire population has been destroyed, leaving no chance for evaluation of how the disease might affect reproduction rates and long-term viability of a population. Because an animal might be infected with CWD for five years or more before dying, that animal has the opportunity to reproduce multiple times. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department makes decisions based on science, rather than speculation, and we're currently conducting long-term research to better understand how CWD might affect overall populations of elk that use feedgrounds.

With or without feedgrounds, elk naturally congregate in large herds, particularly during winter. There are multiple examples of elk thriving at high densities in concentrated winter herds in the presence of CWD. Elk in the Laramie Range of Wyoming and in Colorado's Estes Park are examples. There are no feedgrounds in these areas, but these populations have some of the largest and most concentrated wintering herds anywhere. Much like brucellosis, if CWD arrives in the Greater Yellowstone Area, it will persist in elk at some level with or without feedgrounds.

Closing feedgrounds is a too-easy solution to very complex problems. And closing feedgrounds now will result in additional problems that may be even harder to live with.

Next week, we'll look at some of the potential ramifications of closing feedgrounds, as well as some of the more practical solutions being implemented now.

Terry Cleveland is director of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department.