Posted: Friday, February 24, 2006 12:00 am
Calls for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to phase out its elk feedgrounds have intensified in recent years, with worry growing over the spread of brucellosis and chronic wasting disease.
The debate entered a new realm earlier this month. Conservation groups sued the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, arguing the agencies didn't conduct necessary environmental reviews before allowing Wyoming to operate its 15 feedgrounds on federal lands. The lawsuit could mean the issue will be tied up in court for a long time to come, akin to the fight over snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.
Whether the lawsuit has merit is something for a judge to decide. But whether the state should continue feeding elk, as it has done for decades, is ultimately a decision for Wyoming's people and policy-makers.
While much of the elk feeding in northwest Wyoming takes place on federal land, courts have held in the past that wildlife in Wyoming belongs to the people of the state - not to the federal government or private property owners. It's safe to assume that principle will be maintained in the new feedground litigation, as well it should be.
Should the Forest Service and BLM be required to conduct environmental reviews before allowing elk feeding to continue, or before letting Game and Fish conduct test-and-slaughter programs such as the one under way at the Muddy Creek feedground near Boulder? It's harder to predict how the courts will decide that one. If a judge says such reviews are needed, we'll be looking at environmental impact statements or assessments, public comment periods and the prospect of even more lawsuits.
While the latest lawsuit is against the federal agencies, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Wyoming Game and Fish, justifiably, become involved in the litigation to protect its right to feed elk. The department should also fight for the right to conduct legitimate scientific research as is being done with the test-and-slaughter program at Muddy Creek. But the agency should realize that slaughtering large numbers of elk that test positive for brucellosis will present significant public relations issues.
What Game and Fish should not do is turn back from its promise to develop an individual management plan for each elk feedground - and scrutinize each one to see how it may be possible to reduce or phase out feeding. The fact of the matter is that elk numbers in northwest Wyoming have been maintained at artificially high levels for close to a century. The new disease concerns have made it clear that we need to take a look reducing those numbers and feeding the animals less.
With any issue, litigation tends to exacerbate polarization. It would be a shame to see that happen with the elk feedgrounds debate.