JACKSON - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department's approach to eliminating brucellosis in western Wyoming elk is drawing mixed reviews.

Some say the approach is inadequate and exclusionary. Others see it as a step forward.

The plan offers a series of options to help eradicate the disease, which is a major headache for Wyoming cattle producers.

The Game and Fish Department is holding public meetings focusing on the nine options for each of the seven elk herds that use state-run feedgrounds during the winter. Options are tweaked for each herd unit based on input from livestock producers in the area.

Some are concerned Game and Fish is working in cooperation with ranchers and federal officials only, not others who may be considered "stakeholders" in the fight to end brucellosis.

Lloyd Dorsey with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said brucellosis is a "very, very complex problem," one that is not easy to solve.

"Brucellosis affects so many constituencies throughout our state, it seems it would be better if (the Game and Fish plan) were more inclusive of those constituencies when these plans are formulated," he said. "We agree that the livestock industry needs to be protected from brucellosis, and there are methods that are being discussed in some of these plans that look promising."

Brucellosis is a disease that can cause ungulates to abort, and can cause undulant fever in humans. The last pocket of the disease in the United States remains in northwestern Wyoming and eastern Idaho. Both states lost their brucellosis-free status in recent years, causing logistical and financial hardship for ranchers.

Eric Keszler, spokesman for the Game and Fish Department, said the agency developed the brucellosis plan in concert with livestock producers and not others because producers are on the front lines of the battle.

"The thinking was there, those are the people that are directly impacted, those are the people that we are going to have to be working with to implement these things on the ground," Keszler said.

For the Green River elk herd north of Pinedale, for example, ranchers leaned toward options of having more elk fencing, possibly relocating a feedground to a lower elevation, and habitat improvement. In the Fall Creek herd unit south of Jackson, producers did not like the option of fencing, but preferred an option of relocating feedgrounds away from cattle operations.

Feedground elimination was not favored by cattle producers in discussions for either herd unit. That option has been favored by many conservationists and scientists, who say it is the best way to spread elk out on native range, reducing concentrations of animals and reducing the risk of disease transmission.

Joel Bousman, a Boulder rancher, was involved in the development of a brucellosis action plan for the Muddy Creek feedground, where a controversial test-and-slaughter program has been implemented. Elk are captured, and those that test positive for brucellosis are killed.

Bousman was one of the ranchers whose cattle were held under quarantine after a brucellosis outbreak in the area a few years ago.

He said he is "reasonably satisfied" with the Game and Fish planning process, though said he was disappointed there was not as much game-proof fencing as he had hoped.

"The key to it is each one is designed for a specific situation for each feedground," he said. "Each one has input with working with ranchers who ranch around the feedground. That's the key."

Those ranchers can tell Game and Fish were cattle and elk are. Once you know the risk, you can do something about it, Bousman said.

But whether ranchers will report mingling of cattle and elk has been a question around the state, as reporting such commingling might mean lengthy and problematic testing for cattle herds.

The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is working with individual ranchers to establish their own brucellosis management plans, though it is unclear when those plans will be completed.

Game and Fish wants to have all of its brucellosis plans completed by next summer.

Keszler said the plans are just one of a few approaches Game and Fish is taking to combat brucellosis. Other approaches include research on new vaccines, and the test-and-slaughter program.

He also said the agency is looking to secure federal sources of funding to help ranchers change operations to steers or to spayed heifers in some herd unit areas, or to increase fencing. Brucellosis would be a much lesser concern for operations without heifers.

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@tribcsp.com.