elk feedgrounds

On May 8 at 6 a.m., the Soda Lake elk feedgrounds were cold, windy and empty, except for some Wyoming Game and Fish horses turned out on summer pasture.

Every winter at 22 state-run feedgrounds in western Wyoming, elk descend from the mountains looking for more forage, and possibly hay. It all started about a 100 years ago. After some brutal winters, Wyoming started feeding elk to help them survive and to keep them off ranches. All these years later, elk have come to depend on it. But now, Wyoming says it can’t go on the way it always has, because of a deadly disease that can spread when elk congregate.

After a lengthy morning conversation on pronghorn at a Pinedale meeting, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission shifted in the afternoon to another hot topic – elk feedgrounds.

Wyoming is figuring out how it’ll manage elk feedgrounds into the foreseeable future, and after years of input, a final draft plan has been released.

A milder start to winter means fewer elk on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For the first time, Wyoming is outlining specifically how it will manage elk feedgrounds going forward. A draft plan was released, and it is a shift from how the state’s historically done things.The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) recently published its draft elk feedground management plan. It is about two and half years in the making – with 60 stakeholders taking part in the conversation.

Within a year, Wyoming will have a detailed elk management plan for the first time in history, and it will guide the state for the foreseeable future.The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has been working with the public since late last year to address arising issues.

Conservation groups are calling for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) to phase out state-run elk feedgrounds. This request comes as the agency is drafting its feedground management plan.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department runs 22 elk feedgrounds around the state. The fate of two of those depends on a National Environmental Policy Act review, which is currently in a public comment period.

Once there is a seven percent prevalence of chronic wasting disease, the study predicts a modest decline of elk.