LANDER - The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has begun emergency elk feeding north of Jackson, in an attempt to keep potentially diseased elk away from a horse herd and a nearby cattle operation.

But a Jackson conservationist said the temporary fix, which is starting to look more like a regular event, could create more problems for elk herds and livestock producers in the long term.

The Game and Fish Department has begun feeding 250 to 300 elk in Buffalo Valley near Moran. Tim Fuchs, wildlife supervisor for the Jackson region, said deep snowpack is hindering the elk herd's ability to forage, and the migration routes out of the valley are not passable.

There was a similar feeding operation in the same valley two years ago.

The objective of the current emergency action is to feed elk away from horses that are being fed in the area, and stop elk from seeking food in nearby cattle feeding operations. Before Game and Fish intervened, the elk herd had been mingling and feeding with about 80 domestic horses, Fuchs said.

Game and Fish officials, the Wyoming Livestock Board and the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service are concerned about the hungry elk infecting the horses and cattle with the bacterial disease brucellosis, which infects an estimated 25 percent of elk in the Jackson-Pinedale region, Fuchs said.

"Because of the proximity to cattle, potential for damage to private lands and snow depths, the Game and Fish Department has no other viable option in this case," Fuchs said. "We simply cannot risk brucellosis transmission to those cattle in the area."

The spread of the infection to livestock could result in the state losing its brucellosis-free status, which can be a big blow to the cattle industry.

But implementing a temporary program as Game and Fish has done in Buffalo Valley might actually exacerbate Wyoming's brucellosis problem in the long term, said Franz Camenzind, a Jackson biologist and conservationist who heads the Jackson Hole Alliance.

Camenzind said Wyoming's winter feeding programs artificially concentrate elk herds and facilitate the transmission of diseases including brucellosis.

The primary reason the elk herd is in the Buffalo Valley at this time of year, instead of on preferable winter range, is that they've been fed there in the past, Camenzind said.

"I think it's unfortunate that we're being drawn into a new feeding program," he said. "It's a double-edged sword. Everybody wants to help these critters get through a tough winter, but once you start feeding these animals, you start to condition them to expect feed."

Elk have been fed in Buffalo Valley repeatedly over the years, both intentionally and inadvertently, Camenzind said, and now there is a subset of the herd that is accustomed to some kind of "food reward" for staying there.

This habituated response stops the animals from going to native winter range, he said.

"Like any animal, food reward is a tremendous stimulant for elk. They always remember it," Camenzind said. "I recognize that the Game and Fish Department is responding to what is really an emergency situation;, I just hope everyone can come together and develop an exit strategy from these feeding programs."

Fuchs said he agrees with Camenzind that the Game and Fish Department needs to look for long-term solutions that don't involve this level of emergency feeding. But his department, along with APHIS and the state vet, determined there was an immediate crisis that needed to be addressed.

"We certainly agree that we are going to look for long-term solutions," Fuchs said. "But in the short term, we were in a situation where we had approximately 300 head of elk that were commingling with a horse herd, feeding with the horses."

There is also cattle feeding operation in the vicinity, he said, and Game and Fish needed to head the elk off before they started mingling with the cattle, too.

"Our options were extremely limited," Fuchs said. "There were 30 inches of snow on the ground Thursday - that was before the most recent storm - and it's hard to move elk in those conditions."

Fuchs said Game and Fish is not ignoring the long-term issues Camenzind raises, but the department is also required to deal with immediate crises.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com.