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

A U.S. Forest Service timber-harvest proposal in Pocahontas County has conservation groups worried about potential harmful impacts to endangered freshwater fish species, like the candy darter.

Rick Webb, board member of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, explained dirt and gravel roads needed for logging also increase the risk of erosion and sediment in nearby streams, which can compromise habitat for brook trout, the candy darter and other aquatic life.

Webb wants the Forest Service to conduct more research to alleviate these concerns.

"An Environmental Impact Statement would provide an opportunity to look at the existing conditions," Webb explained. "What the sources of sediment are, and to specifically identify what needs to be done to prevent creating additional sources."

He added more data would help to ensure the project complies with the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. The Forest Service maintains the project would improve forest health and future wildlife habitat, and be a source of future commercial timber sales and economic development.

Kent Karricker, board member and public lands committee chair for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said in the past, the Forest Service has done a good job of closing up paths used by loggers to move heavy machinery and timber.

"It's an issue we've been working with the Forest Service on for some time," Karricker noted. "They've been doing a lot of good work as well, decommissioning old skid routes."

Karricker believes the potential increase in sediment from the project could compromise critical habitat.

"Show us the evidence that this is going to work as planned," Karricker urged. "And if it's not going to work as planned, show us some protection measures that are going to mitigate or eliminate these impacts."

Webb argued West Virginians could benefit from a balanced approach to managing the state's national forests.

"The national forests are the best of what remains of our natural wild landscape," Webb pointed out. "Many species depend on that, and they're disappearing. Both the brook trout and the candy darter are greatly reduced from their original distribution."

The two species are both native to West Virginia streams.

The hunting of gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park has set off alarm bells for wildlife-related businesses in the region.

Thirty businesses have sent a letter urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to return endangered-species protections to gray wolves.

Cara McGary, owner and lead guide of In Our Nature Guiding Services in Gardiner, said some wolves recently killed were from a pack she has been watching on her wildlife tours.

"They kind of went on a wander, and two of those puppies were killed just over the boundary of the park," McGary explained. "So it's frustrating from a business perspective as well as from kind of a personal perspective."

New laws in Montana and Idaho allow for the killing of 85% and 90%, respectively, of the states' wolf populations. Twenty wolves from Yellowstone have been killed in recent months, the most since the species was reintroduced 25 years ago, according to park officials. In September, federal officials said they would review whether protections should be restored for gray wolves.

Nathan Varley, a wildlife biologist and co-owner of the Gardiner-based Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, said he and other businesses have tried to convince Montana officials to reinstate hunting quotas near the park, which were limited because wolves are important for the tourism industry.

"This past year they just lifted those quotas," Varley pointed out. "That's allowed for this very high -- actually historic -- number of wolves being taken from what we consider to be park packs, the ones that we rely on."

Varley added he signed the letter to Haaland because of Montana's unresponsiveness to businesses' concerns.

McGary is a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee. She emphasized it is not her preference to have to go to the federal government to ask for endangered-species protections for gray wolves, noting it could erode the relationships built in the region.

"I'm disappointed that the state of Montana has made decisions that's put us in this place," McGary stated. "But we need intervention, so that's why I signed on personally."

Businesses near Yellowstone have organized the Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition to promote management practices allowing for coexistence with wildlife.

The Maine Bird Atlas is in its fourth year out of five, an effort to document the abundance and distribution of the state's wintering and breeding bird species.

It is what's known as a "citizen science project," meaning Maine residents are being asked to report the species and location of wintering bird sightings this season, and then next summer, breeding bird sightings.

Adrienne Leppold, wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and director of the Maine Bird Atlas, said the information will benefit generations of Mainers and Maine birds.

"A comprehensive survey like this for winter birds across the entire state has never been done," Leppold explained. "We have some baseline information on breeding birds that was collected in the late 70s."

She added the new information will allow them to compare, and see what has changed in the last 30-plus years since the last breeding bird survey, as well as to finally document abundance and distribution information for wintering birds. Maine is home to more than 190 winter species.

Leppold noted tracking and mapping Maine's birds is a major undertaking, and no one or group of biologists could do it without the help of the state's birding community.

She pointed out you do not have to be an expert birder to report a sighting as long as you can identify the species and its location.

"In addition to collecting the scientific data about where birds are, we've kind of built this effort of community and connecting people who are less experienced with people who are more experienced, and just building that passion for nature and birds," Leppold emphasized.

The data collected will be compiled into a resource for birders finding species of interest in the state, and for biologists and conservationists at the local, state, national and even global level.