JACKSON - Conservation groups Wednesday revealed recommendations to the governor regarding brucellosis management, calling for a gradual phase-out of as many as eight of the state's 23 elk feedgrounds.

At the top of the list are the three elk feedgrounds in the Gros Ventre River drainage east of the National Elk Refuge in Jackson.

Lloyd Dorsey with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, who along with the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Wyoming Outdoor Council submitted the proposal, said the state could "take a very close look" at these three feedgrounds to examine the possibility of closure as a pilot program.

"We want to make sure the private livestock and private lands are taken care of," he said. "Now, current conditions are that it should take much more to address these other concerns and undertake a phase-out of these feedgrounds."

Dorsey said the groups submitted their solution, dubbed "Brucellosis Solutions for Elk and Cattle in Wyoming," to offer another perspective to some current recommendations from Gov. Dave Freudenthal's Brucellosis Task Force. Among that panel's suggestions was a controversial test-and-slaughter program slated for the Muddy Creek feedground.

"We're hoping as well (the governor) would adopt a feedground phase-out prototype over time," Dorsey said.

Terry Cleveland, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the groups' proposal was short on specifics.

"It's pretty broad in concept," he said. "For that to be seriously considered, it needs to be refined and more specificity added to it so we can see exactly what they are proposing and how that would be achieved. It's easy to say 'close feedgrounds,' but what does that mean on the ground?"

Cleveland said the project needs an outline of, for example, what kind of habitat manipulation is needed, what the costs are, if easements are needed, and how to handle elk and livestock conflicts.

Aiming for healthy elk

The report suggests the use of adaptive management to "carefully and incrementally over time eliminate feeding in some of these feedgrounds, which will allow for careful monitoring and adaptive changes based on resource conditions and stakeholder needs."

That, the groups say, will help restore healthy elk populations and migrations, and will put the animals at less risk for disease - such as brucellosis and chronic wasting disease - which is more easily transmitted when animals are concentrated.

The discovery of brucellosis last year in Wyoming cattle, south of Yellowstone National Park, triggered the loss of Wyoming's brucellosis-free status. The $980 million cattle industry is now absorbing costly testing expenses before any of Wyoming's 1.2 million cattle can leave for other states.

Because the infected cattle might have contracted the disease from infected elk, the governor's task force has focused on elk feedgrounds as the probable source of the cattle's infection, though members were evenly divided as to whether feedgrounds should be closed.

Brucellosis is a contagious bacterial disease that can be spread among cattle, bison and elk and can cause abortions, infertility, reduced milk production and other problems.

In their report, the conservation groups said phasing out eight feedgrounds will save the state $3.52 million over 10 years.

Successes

A phase-out of the feedgrounds in the Buffalo Valley proved successful, the report said, and now the area boasts some of the highest elk cow-calf ratios and lowest exposure to brucellosis rates in the state.

Dorsey said the state can "key in" on an experimental project, such as the feedgrounds in the Gros Ventre, to see how closures would work.

"Conditions in the Gros Ventre are very propitious, meaning they are pretty much ready," he said. "There are still livestock operations that would need protecting out there."

Doug Hare, ranch manager of the Red Rock Ranch in the Gros Ventre near the Alkali feedground, installed a $22,000 elk-proof fence to keep his horses - and their hay - away from the wildlife.

"We took it upon ourselves," he said. The ranch fenced in about five acres for 75 horses.

"It has severely reduced the loss of hay that had been consumed" by elk, he said.

Still, Hare said there are about 25 elk that hang around his ranch because they have come there repeatedly in past winters for food.

"If they were to get rid of feedgrounds and it were a bad winter, my feeling is there would be a couple thousand elk tramping down the road going into town, bringing the wolves, bringing predators closer to the rich people's dogs," he said.

Hare has only been in the area for a year, and his opinion is "limited," but no feedgrounds would likely mean starvation, he said.

"That's natural, and if people want to see things the natural way, they should come up here and see dead elk," he said.

That is part of the concern, too, for Bob Wharff, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

He said to successfully close feedgrounds, there would have to be habitat manipulation, acquisition of private lands or some other process to show elk have a place to go.

"You would have to show that it could be done without reducing elk numbers," he said, and that could take years.

There are about 4,000 elk in the Gros Ventre area, with about 2,600 typically on feed, Dorsey said.

Money matters

Cleveland said there is opportunity for livestock producers to receive funding from Game and Fish for livestock fencing.

Dorsey said it is "very appropriate for ranchers to receive assistance in wildlife-proofing their livestock feeding operations."

Still, Cleveland questioned where money would come from if habitat improvement projects are needed to enhance winter range for elk off feedgrounds.

Dorsey said money could come from Game and Fish and non-government organizations, and possibly the wildlife trust fund working its way through the state Legislature.

"With the cost savings, those monies could be recouped pretty quickly," he said.

The report also suggested examining closure of feedgrounds near Pinedale, and used the example of the closure of the North Piney feedground as an example of a success.

"With the sensitivity of this issue and the concerns to protect the livestock industry, it's best to go into this very carefully, so the Gros Ventre's three feedgrounds can be done soonest," Dorsey said. "We can learn from that, learn from the North Piney situation, then evaluate. Hopefully the state will recognize this is the way to go, and in the coming years we can look at some of the others to phase out."

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