JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming wildlife officials have begun to draft a long-term elk feed ground management plan to help guide elk management in western Wyoming for the foreseeable future.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department intends to have a draft plan for stakeholders and public review by this coming winter. This plan is the next step in the department’s elk feedgrounds “collaborative process.”
“Ultimately, the steering team would like to bring a completed elk feedgrounds management plan before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission for their approval in the summer of 2023,” says Game and Fish.
Game and Fish began a multi-phase public collaborative effort in 2020 to evaluate their 22 state-administered elk feedgrounds.
In June, six conservation groups submitted a comprehensive recommendation to Game and Fish, calling on the state to begin phasing out its state-run feedgrounds in northwestern Wyoming. They argued that feedgrounds help perpetuate Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which has progressed in the state over the last 20 years.
The public process was designed to culminate in the development of a long-term elk feedgrounds management plan that would chart a long-range course forward for the agency.
“This process is the next step in the necessary progression of wildlife management, where we must continually shift based on science and emerging needs and issues,” said Wyoming Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik. “It’s an important evaluation, and we believe in doing it alongside our diverse stakeholders.”
The multi-phase public collaborative process, dubbed “Elk Feedgrounds: A challenge we can take on,” began with public meetings to explain the complex issue. Soon after, members of the public were invited to participate as stakeholders in Phase II, designed to discuss the most current information on several of the complex aspects of feedgrounds and elk management in northwest Wyoming. Now officials will begin to draft a management plan.
Anyone can visit the “Elk Feedgrounds: A challenge we can take on” webpage to learn more.
