JACKSON, Wyo. – The most recent elk count surveyed on the National Elk Refuge (NER) from Feb 6. estimated 7,410 elk on the southern half of the Refuge. This number is about 95 percent of the elk expected to migrate there this winter.
Increasing elk numbers in past years have led to a reduced supplemental feeding program as part of a Step-Down Plan to reduce elk numbers on the Refuge. The hope is to get the number down to 5,000 elk wintering on NER annually.
An inflated elk population can increase the risk of diseases like Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a fatal disease similar to mad cow. According to Eric Cole, senior wildlife biologist at the NER, a shorter feed season has the potential to reduce transmission risk, though further assessment is necessary.
Cole did confirm that there have been no positive CWD cases in preliminary samples from the 2022 hunting season. “These results suggest that CWD prevalence is still less than 1% in the Jackson Elk Herd,” said Cole. “Our current CWD mitigation strategy is to euthanize all elk exhibiting CWD symptoms (none so far this winter), test all elk harvested on NER, euthanized elk, and elk found dead on the Refuge for CWD (none of these have been CWD positive to date) and incinerate elk carcasses.”
NER received a crematory in Aug. 2022 to incinerate any carcasses with confirmed CWD.
It’s not just the high risk of diseases like CWD that have created the need to lower elk numbers. “Consistently high elk and bison numbers on the Refuge have led to degradation of willow, cottonwood and aspen plant communities,” Cole said, which can affect the ecosystem as a whole and has particularly impacted birds.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has yet to complete its herd-wide classification counts, which includes the elk at state feed grounds in the Gros Ventre drainage and elk occupying their native winter range. The final CWD sampling results will not be available until the end of February.
