11/14/2023 0 Comments Jackson hole wyoming elk refuge![]() ![]() (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)įor over 20 years, Cole has determined when to start feeding elk by systematically measuring the amount of grasses, sedges and forbs that are accessible to foraging elk. Historically feeding begins once grasses, sedges and forbs decline below 300 pounds per acre. National Elk Refuge biologist Eric Cole measures the forage remaining on the federal property once or twice a week in the time leading up to the elk feeding season. Over time, as new generations of elk are born, a larger percentage of the herd could cease to know the National Elk Refuge as a place to go, the theory goes. When it’s not, they tend to hoof it back up to the natural winter ranges and state-run feedgrounds up the river valley. “What we’re hoping is that they’re not going to the refuge,” Cole said.ĭata from GPS-collared elk in the Jackson Herd shows animals that drift down from the Gros Ventre River area are much more likely to remain on the refuge if feeding is occurring, Cole said. Steps that Cole and Courtemanch and their bosses are now taking to abbreviate the feeding are intended to teach the herd to go elsewhere. That plan seeks to trim the refuge’s winter population by several thousand down to 5,000 animals, a number that would theoretically allow federal managers to forgo feeding during winters of average severity. The potential effects of CWD on the Jackson Herd were front and center during years of planning and litigation that led up to the refuge’s current elk and bison management plan, completed in 2007. ![]() Now there’s a new, always-lethal malady - chronic wasting disease - that’s been confirmed in the herd. But the practice also curtails natural migrations, inflates the herd size beyond the natural carrying capacity of the landscape and is proven to spread diseases, like bacterial hoof rot. Elk feeding has long engendered support because it props up populations and keeps the wild ungulates away from haystacks, highways and neighborhoods. Fish and Wildlife Service to take a long look at modifying the way it manages elk on its property bordering the town of Jackson. Outfitter and wildlife photographer Stephen Leek drummed up national support for feeding the Jackson Elk Herd through images of their suffering and death that appeared in magazines like Outdoor Life and a lecture tour. “The percentage of the Jackson Elk Herd using refuge feedgrounds has increased by nine percentage points compared to the baseline.”Įlk feeding on the 24,700-acre refuge is a historic practice started after a series of harsh early-20th-century western Wyoming winters killed what settlers described as tens of thousands of animals. “In fact, to date, we’ve been going in the wrong direction,” Cole said. But so far, the new policy isn’t weaning the elk herd off feed. The method entails truncating the feed season - ending the distribution of pellets early and, starting this winter, delaying when elk feeding begins. Now, after 110 years, the federal refuge is attempting to cut back on the elk herd’s dependence on human-provided feed. The massive herd of ungulates were drawn to the tractor because of what they mistook it for: A feeding vehicle, which, in a typical winter, lines out a few dozen tons of alfalfa pellets every morning. This was precisely the type of behavior the National Elk Refuge is seeking to curb. “They’re interested in that tractor,” Cole said, “plowing the west access road.” Cole upped the estimate to 2,500, then perhaps 3,000. The herd, drifting to the northeast, kept revealing itself. “Just a guess would be a couple thousand,” Cole told Courtemanch. Wyoming Game and Fish Department Biologist Aly Courtemanch, sitting passenger, wondered just how many wapiti they were looking at. Fish and Wildlife Service pickup truck, retrofitted with snow tracks for outings like this. Our work is made possible by dedicated members like you who invest in our reporting - thank you!Ī phalanx of elk swept across the snowy prairie, a tawny-coated mass on the move that caused National Elk Refuge Biologist Eric Cole to slow his U.S. We appreciate you being a member of the WyoFile community.
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