MEREDITH TAYLOR

Sportsmen and sportswomen should beware of the elk test and slaughter pilot program being conducted this month by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) with "the mother of all elk traps" at the WGFD Muddy Creek feedground near Pinedale.

Ironically, the department, which operates the only large-scale elk feedground complex in America, has asked citizens to NOT feed elk or any big game animal. In addition, the WGFD has endorsed the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources (TRW) Interim Committee's proposed legislation that would ban the intentional feeding of big game and trophy game animals on private land.

Why? Because they admit feeding is not good for the animals. It "takes the wild out of wildlife, spreads disease, and alters their behavior." Even more ironic is that TRW's bill is one of the Governor's Brucellosis Coordination Team (BCT) recommendations to improve brucellosis control and prevention. The BCT recommends that the state regulate feeding wildlife because it increases the risk of disease. Uh… yeah.

Idaho thought its elk test and slaughter program (which Wyoming used as a model) was successful, but Idaho recently lost its brucellosis-free status when cattle tested positive near the Idaho elk feedground. Idaho now has the expensive requirement of testing all livestock prior to sale and is back at square one. And it's deja vu all over again for the bison being tested and slaughtered in Montana.

Hunters should be part of the solution to reduce the big game herds. Many hunters are not happy that up to 10 percent of the Pinedale cow elk will be trucked to an Idaho slaughter facility, since it will reduce elk hunting in the area. Hunters should not be duped into believing that this is a one-time, isolated pilot project. WGFD has stated that they will expand this program to the National Elk Refuge and all feedgrounds if this test and slaughter is "successful." But, this pilot project will only reduce sero-positive rates while elk are being slaughtered, not after the test and slaughter program is completed and feedgrounds re-infect elk.

Brucellosis cannot be eradicated as long as there are feedgrounds. We know the basic problem of disease is the result of a century of feeding elk during the winter, but you can't solve a problem using the same methods that got you there in the first place. If Wyoming is to regain and keep its brucellosis-free status, the only way to eliminate brucellosis in elk is to phase out feeding and let the elk graze on native, public winter range as they do throughout the rest of the West.

So, what's the solution to the elk feedground disease problem? Conservationists presented an alternative pilot project to the BCT to manage elk at carrying capacity for available habitat and phase out the Gros Ventre feedgrounds. The WGFD identified these feedgrounds as least necessary, but where elk numbers exceed the herd-objective. In severe winters emergency feeding, as defined by established criteria, may be necessary. It is time to phase-out feedgrounds, balance grazing allotments for wildlife use and involve local ranchers and hunters.

Conservationists and land trusts work to restore and protect wildlife habitat, conservation easements and acquisition of available land so that existing wildlife populations may migrate and winter on crucial habitat in perpetuity. How many more millions of dollars will be spent feeding and vaccinating elk instead of protecting and improving habit, purchasing habitat and conserving easements and maintaining winter range and migration routes?

The time is now for Wyoming to phase-out elk feedgrounds. WGFD and the TRW are right - Wyoming needs a ban on feeding wildlife. A favorable end result over time is that elk roam free on native range that can sustain them naturally, without feeding and without disease. Let's start today with this free-ranging wildlife legacy for the future.

Meredith Taylor is a conservationist and outfitter in Dubois.