JACKSON (AP) - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department won't close three elk feeding grounds northeast of Jackson, despite a request from conservation groups that say the closures might reduce the spread of brucellosis.

Game and Fish officials say closing the grounds in the Gros Ventre Valley would go against elk management objectives and hamper elk hunting. The department runs 22 feedgrounds in northwest Wyoming.

Conservation groups had proposed closing the three northeast of Jackson last year to reduce brucellosis. It is a bacterial disease that can spread from wildlife to livestock and cause pregnant cows to abort.

The conservation groups also say closure would be the state's best defense against a possible outbreak of chronic wasting disease in elk herds.

Franz Camenzind, director of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, called the department's decision to leave the feedgrounds open "extremely unfortunate." His group joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Wyoming Outdoor Council in calling for the closures.

Camenzind said the department's decision blocks the door to a disease-free future. "We think it's essential to spread the elk out on their native ranges, reducing the chance of spreading the disease and reducing the infection rate," he said.

Recent tests have found a much higher incidence of brucellosis among elk at feedgrounds compared to other areas of Wyoming where the Game and Fish Department doesn't feed them. Elk are blamed for spreading the disease to cattle. The federal government revoked the Wyoming's cattle industry's brucellosis-free status in 2004.

John Emmerich, assistant chief of the Game and Fish Department's Wildlife Division, said closing the feedgrounds would pose logistical problems. He said the state would have to build fences around area ranches to keep elk from mingling with livestock.

"They are going to go someplace to look for feed," Emmerich said. "We feel there would have to be support from the private landowners downstream of the Gros Ventre to adopt management practices to prevent commingling. That's totally out of our hands."

Also, Emmerich said the National Elk Refuge would have to be willing to support more elk if the animals moved out of the Gros Ventre to the refuge. Managers of the refuge are trying to reduce the size of its herd.

Doug Brimeyer, a Game and Fish biologist, said closing the feedgrounds also might hurt bighorn sheep and moose, because elk would increase the competition for food.