JACKSON, Wyo. -- Conservation groups are doubling down on efforts to get federal agencies to stop controversial winter feeding of elk at the Alkali Creek feedground in the Gros Ventre drainage, Dell Creek feedground in Sublette County and Forest Park feedground in Lincoln County.

Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, says chronic wasting disease surrounds all three operations, and she hopes the courts will put a stop to a practice she believes puts entire herds at risk.

"Once a disease like chronic wasting disease gets into these feedgrounds, the chance of spread just increases exponentially when you have high densities of elk in one location," she stresses.

A coalition of wildlife advocacy groups filed a lawsuit this week charging the U.S, Forest Service of continuing to grant feeding permits without adequate environmental analysis, a move ordered by the U.S. District Court of Wyoming in 2018.

Supporters of the practice, including livestock producers and hunters, argue that feedlots keep elk away from livestock and herd numbers high.

Combs notes that Wyoming's iconic game could take a serious long-term hit if chronic wasting disease, which is fatal, sweeps through herds. She says there are alternatives to feedlots to prevent encounters with livestock, such as fencing around hay stores or keeping elk away from properties.

"There are other ways that we can be innovative and creative in solving this problem," she stresses. "Wyoming is one of the only states where you are not responsible for fencing livestock."

Combs points to analysis by non-governmental organizations and state agencies showing there is plenty of natural food to sustain thousands of elk and other big game over the winter in their native ranges.

The lawsuit also alleges that elk feeding at Dell Creek and Forest Park by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is being conducted without appropriate permits, which expired nearly four years ago.


get more stories like this via email

After receiving input from stakeholders earlier this year, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has released a list of priorities guiding its initial draft of a management plan for the controversial practice of feeding wild elk at winter feedgrounds.

Kristin Combs - executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates - agreed with much on the list, but said she worries the emphasis on maintaining unnaturally large big-game populations could compromise herd health.

She said it's important to make space in the plan for elk's natural predators.

"The one thing we don't see in the list," said Combs, "is having a robust suite of predators and large carnivores on the landscape that can really offer free services to provide for healthy elk herds."

She said allowing predators to kill off animals that fall sick to chronic wasting and other communicable diseases will limit the risk of hunters harvesting diseased meat, and strengthen biodiversity and the region's ecosystems.

Some hunters support using feedgrounds to maintain large elk populations, and outfitters see the practice as a proven way to keep doors open for business.

Game and Fish says it expects to publish the proposal after internal review, and will accept public comments in coming weeks.

The powerful ranching lobby has urged the agency to limit conflicts between cattle and elk, in part over fears of disease transmission, and that priority made the list.

Combs noted that other western states including Colorado, Idaho and Montana that do not use feedgrounds place part of the burden of limiting conflict on ranchers.

"Fencing out elk is a requirement, or fencing in your hay stores," said Combs. "Keeping your herd separated from elk is a part of the responsibility of raising cattle, versus having the government do this for you."

Another priority is to modify feedground management to minimize disease transmission. Combs said the very nature of feedgrounds, where animals are packed together in close quarters, practically invites large-scale infections.

But she agreed with the agency's goal of helping elk transition to natural winter ranges.

"There's already a bunch of really good wild foraging areas," said Combs, "especially on the national forests, even on some private lands that are available."

Environmental groups are calling efforts over the past half-century to restore the wild turkey population from the brink of extinction one of America's greatest wildlife success stories.

Conservationists are now calling on Congress to pass pending legislation which would help states, territories and tribes duplicate those efforts to save hundreds of threatened species. The bipartisan Recovering America's Wildlife Act would allocate $1.4 billion annually to protect fish, wildlife and plants for future generations.

John Kanter, senior biologist for the National Wildlife Federation, said it is a matter of scaling up current efforts to protect more species.

"What we're doing here is using this tremendous conservation success story as a springboard to talk about the next generation of conservation success stories," Kanter explained.

By 1910, there were no more wild turkeys in Illinois because of overhunting and a loss of habitat. But starting in 1950, an Illinois Department of Natural Resources program to reintroduce the birds succeeded in restoring the population to every county in the state.

The Recovering America's Wildlife Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year and is awaiting action by the Senate, where there are more than 40 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.

Kanter emphasized lawmakers urgently need to approve the bill before the current session closes at the end of the year.

"A third of species -- known plants and animals in the U.S. -- are at increased risk of extinction," Kanter pointed out. "It's time for us to address this biodiversity crisis, and let's get ahead of it."

He noted in the 1950s, there were only about 30,000 wild turkeys left in the country, but a concerted effort by government agencies and conservation groups between 1970 and the early 2000s restored habitat and reintroduced turkeys to places where they had been eliminated. There are currently an estimated 7 million wild turkeys across the U.S.

The Bureau of Land Management, which controls 67% of public lands in Nevada, said it is now going to make it a priority to protect wildlife corridors, which are the routes animals like mule deer take between their winter and summer ranges.

The agency issued a Memorandum of Instruction Tuesday, officially telling their state offices to consider the impact on wildlife migration when making decisions going forward.

Russell Kuhlman, executive director of the Nevada Wildlife Federation, said the BLM has the power to approve or deny permits on a wide range of projects.

"They oversee cattle permit grazing, renewable energy projects, the oil and gas leasing, and they also approve building permits," Kuhlman outlined.

A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey found the American West is losing 1.3 million acres a year of sagebrush habitat, mainly to wildfire but also to development, which has pushed the sage grouse population closer to extinction.

Kuhlman pointed out the BLM posted a notice online last week, stating it will offer new oil-and-gas leases in Nevada soon, but then, the agency pulled the web page.

"So, I'd be very interested to see if they lease areas of low-to-no potential land for oil and gas, having just sent out this instructional memorandum calling for the protection of wildlife connectivity," Kuhlman remarked. "I'm going to keep my eye on that."

Experts warned animal populations become more vulnerable to disease when they are cut off from parts of their range, in part due to increased inbreeding.