Plans to vaccinate elk on the National Elk Refuge against brucellosis got the go ahead Monday after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reached a finding of no significant impact on the plan.

"We are confident that our decision is based on sound process and on sound management, and is consistent with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act,"said Ralph Morgenweck, the USFWS Regional 8 director in Denver.

That isn't how the Wyoming Outdoor Council sees it.

"We're very disappointed in the Service's decision," said Kelly Matheson, WOC's Greater Yellowstone program coordinator. "It just doesn't make any sense - the agencies themselves admit that the vaccination program will have negligible impact on the disease. It would make far more sense to change the feeding program."

Matheson said the USFWS decision "rests on shaky legal ground," and that WOC is studying its options in how to respond to this decision.

Last week, Wyoming conservationists charged "serious collusion behind the scenes" between the Service and Wyoming Game and Fish, based on a series of USFWS memos and e-mails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Meredith Taylor, a field director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, called the USFWS a victim of political pressure and a predetermined decision between top levels of the agency, the office of former governor Jim Geringer and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Despite having already rejected the state's proposal, the USFWS reached a settlement agreement with the state last summer. Under the settlement, the USFWS agreed to consider the state's proposal to vaccinate elk on the refuge, according to Geringer. The federal agency had until early this month to decide whether to allow a vaccination program, which could begin immediately thereafter.

The USFWS has now agreed that Wyoming Game and Fish Department can vaccinate calf and cow elk on the National Elk Refuge once the USFWS commences its winter feeding program, beginning in early 2003.

According to USFWS spokesman Matt Kales, vaccination will continue each winter season until the completion of an environmental impact statement for bison and elk management on the National Elk Refuge and in Grand Teton National Park, but is not now scheduled to extend beyond the winter of 2004-05.

Kales emphasized that the final decision on the EIS, which will include a decision on a long-term brucellosis management strategy, could potentially continue the vaccination strategy or replace the interim plan with another disease management strategy. The scheduled date for completion of the EIS is February 2005.

During the first few winters, the Game and Fish teams would attempt to vaccinate 1,200 calves and 2,000 cows each year.

Further information about the USFWS decision is on the Internet at ( http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/ea/infopackets/nationalelk/ ).