JACKSON - People looking for bison hunting opportunities in Jackson Hole are in luck, as a final bison management plan aims to reduce the herd by more than half, from about 1,200 animals to 500.

While that reduction won't happen in a single year, it will happen in a steady march over about five years or more.

Mark Gocke, spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said this year the department is offering 100 bison tags picked in random drawings. There will be nonresident licenses for eight bulls and 10 cows, along with resident tags for 50 cows and 32 bulls.

The season will run from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30. Cost for each of these tags is $331 for residents and $2,101 for nonresidents.

"This is a start," Gocke said. "There could be more next year. We're going to see how this goes. We're just going to keep plugging away at trying to reduce numbers."

Hunters will be able to pursue bison on the National Elk Refuge, unlike years past when the hunts were on adjacent U.S. Forest Service land.

Meanwhile, elk hunting on the refuge should see a boost in coming years as well.

Elk populations wintering on the National Elk Refuge are targeted for a 30 percent reduction, from a management objective of 7,500 wintering animals to 5,000.

This year, there were about 6,700 elk on feed. During the last five years, an average of 6,186 elk has wintered on the refuge.

Barry Reiswig, director of the refuge, said that reduction will come over a fairly long period of time and will target the Grand Teton National Park elk segment. That hunting pressure will come in part from opening up southern areas of the refuge to a hunt.

Gocke said there will be times when both bison and elk hunters will be on the refuge.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published its "record of decision" for the bison and elk plan Thursday, the final step in a series of studies. The final plan was published in February, and that document is virtually identical with the one released Thursday.

The record of decision culminates nearly a decade worth of struggle over how to manage elk and bison in the greater Jackson Hole area.

In 1998, wildlife officials called for a bison hunt, but the Fund for Animals sued, saying the effects of feeding bison had not been analyzed. Bison in the area typically spend winters in feedlines on the refuge, separated from elk but fed. Reducing bison numbers will allow enhanced habitat for natural forage for elk, managers say.

Recent versions of the federal plan have evolved to focus on disease issues, as congregated elk and bison - such as those in feedlines - spread disease more quickly.

The federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has been watching the issue closely, as northwest Wyoming is one of the country's last pocket of brucellosis, which can be transmitted to cattle. Brucellosis can cause ungulates to abort, and Wyoming lost its brucellosis-free status for livestock in 2004. It was restored last year.

Lloyd Dorsey with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said his organization appreciates the multi-year effort put toward healthy wildlife and habitat in Jackson Hole.

"We agree that the habitat and wildlife disease problems are directly linked to the artificial feeding of elk and bison, and that it is best to manage the herds in appropriate numbers and densities for the habitat to support," he said.

Franz Camenzind, executive director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, had said he was disappointed the document didn't go far enough to address disease issues.

"This was 10 years in the making, and the only thing that's really different is killing half the bison," he said.

Bob Wharff, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said he had not yet reviewed the record of decision, but said his organization is skeptical wildlife managers will be able to reduce the number of elk on feed and "still take care of the animals."

He said the bison herd needs to be addressed, and putting more pressure on the Grand Teton elk herd will be progress, but his group will not "sit back and let the elk starve to death."

Wharff said refuge managers will need to feed elk whether there are 5,000 wintering there or 10,000. In recent winters, refuge managers have come under fire as some said they were not feeding the animals adequately, resulting in high mortality. Refuge officials said the deaths were within normal mortality limits, and many resulted from a foot rot disease, not starvation.

John Emmerich, deputy director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said his agency has "been all along a proponent of increasing the opportunities to harvest bison," and the agency's herd objective has been about 500.

Emmerich also said the department supports the goal to sustain 5,000 elk on the National Elk Refuge. He said it's "unknown" how much feeding it's going to take to sustain those elk. Part of the plan says the refuge will increase forage production on the refuge so more elk can be off of feedlines.

"It's going to be a balancing act," Emmerich said.

Reiswig has said the triggers to begin feeding on the refuge will not change.

The Jackson elk herd is slightly over Game and Fish's objective numbers of 11,029, and the current estimate is 11,790 - within the agency's window of acceptability.

Environmental reporter Whitney Royster can be reached at (307) 734-0260 or at royster@tribcsp.com.