Film Highlights Debate Surrounding Feedings on the National Elk Refuge
When feeding began on the National Elk Refuge in 1912, elk herds around Jackson, Wyoming were in rapid decline. Hunting, settlement and a lack of management had taken a toll on the herds. Ranchers initially began this annual feeding as a way to keep elk off private land and away from winter hay stores. Today, fear of the spread of disease, such as brucellosis, to livestock continues to leave elk herds unwelcome on private ranchlands.
A bull elk with velvet antlers in Yellowstone in early summer.
Nearly a century later, this generous attempt originally meant to keep herds from starving during harsh Rocky Mountain winters is causing more harm than good. The refuge feeds approximately 7,000 elk each winter. The unnaturally high concentrations of elk on the refuge have led to the degradation of refuge habitat and further disruption of historic elk migration patterns in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. More significantly, the animal crowding spurred by the feeding has led to a high prevalence of diseases such as brucellosis and scabies, and a significantly increased threat of an outbreak of lethal chronic wasting disease (CWD) – the elk equivalent of “mad cow” disease. With several cases confirmed nearby, scientists believe it is only a matter of time before CWD shows up in herds on the refuge.
While the argument to end the feedings is strong, it has not gone unchallenged. Along with Grand Teton National Park, the National Elk Refuge draws large numbers of visitors each year. Many view the refuge as a critical tourism attraction for the local economy.
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge is the gradual process of ending a century of feeding. In 2007, after considering several alternatives – including one with broad support from the public and scientists that would have phased out winter feeding over a period of five years – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the final management plan for the refuge. Despite the considered alternatives, the final plan lacks any real steps toward decreasing elk concentrations and restoring native vegetation on the refuge.
In an effort to ensure that the Elk Refuge and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem can support healthy and sustainable elk populations for years to come, Defenders and a coalition of conservation groups challenged the Management Plan in the federal district court for the District of Columbia in June 2008. The district court rejected this lawsuit, but that decision is currently being appealed by the coalition.
Defenders recently sponsored a film that highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the refuge. Watch Feeding the Problem here or visit our website to learn more about Defenders’ work on this issue.
What comes to mind when you think of wilderness? For me, it is the grizzly, the epitome of the west and all that is wild. Once ranging in great numbers throughout the mountains and the Great Plains, grizzlies have been reduced to less than 2% of their historic range in the lower 48. Fewer than 1,500 now remain in five distinct populations.
Since being listed as a threatened species in the lower 48 under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, grizzlies have made great strides towards recovery. Numbers have nearly tripled to over 600 in the Greater Yellowstone Area in the past three decades. The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly population has increased to over 800, where 48% of the bears now call Glacier National Park home. Grizzlies have also begun to move back to their historic range on the plains. However, this iconic animal is not out of the woods just yet.
If you have been following the news in the west, you have probably noticed the rise in human/bear conflicts in recent years. Human-caused mortality is one of the biggest threats to grizzly bear survival in the lower 48. As with all wild things, grizzlies need room to roam – and a lot of it. With human population growing steadily in the west, habitat is declining. While more and more people are making efforts to reduce these conflicts, there is still a long way to go.
The recent success in grizzly bear recovery has brought to the table an important –and familiar – question. Are grizzlies ready to be delisted – removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act – in areas where they are doing well? For any species, the answer is not just about numbers of animals, but also about whether adequate protections are in place to ensure they won’t need to be put back on the Endangered Species List in the future. An article in the Missoula Independent provided some much needed insight on this debate, including some great quotes from our Northern Rockies Representative, Jonathan Proctor:
Grizzlies are “a success story in the making right now,” says Jonathan Proctor, Rocky Mountain Region representative for the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife. “The population is expanding, protections are working, more and more people who live around the NCDE area are taking great steps to coexist with grizzlies…Everyone wants the grizzlies to recover to the point where delisting can occur. Obviously we do. The question is, is it at that point or not?”
This month, Yellowstone National Park officials offered an inside look at the Stephens Creek bison holding facility outside of Gardiner, MT. I was able to attend and get a first-hand look at the results of Montana’s refusal to manage bison as wildlife (see photos below). It was a heartbreaking sight to see nearly 600 of Yellowstone’s wild bison being held in this crowded facility. Harsh winter conditions send bison to lower elevations – and outside of the park’s invisible boundary — in search of food. Exaggerated fears of the transfer of brucellosis to livestock have caused officials to haze the wandering animals into temporary holding corrals. However, room is running out as these facilities near capacity and the State of Montana and Yellowstone National Park struggle to reach a solution. The temporary protection established by Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is quickly approaching an expiration date. Meanwhile, hundreds of wild bison await their fate.
Fortunately, Governor Schweitzer has worked out a plan to allow bison an opportunity to roam up to 13 miles north of Yellowstone Park, throughout the Gardiner Basin as far north as the narrow Yankee Jim Canyon. This natural barrier to bison movement will be reinforced with a cattle guard across the highway and fencing. We are still hopeful that bison will be managed as free-roaming wildlife in Montana someday, but this is a major step forward. It marks the first time wild bison will be allowed access to any meaningful habitat in Montana, and ends the justification for killing bison searching for food outside Yellowstone National Park by providing them at least some winter range.
During a separate visit, Defenders’ Rocky Mountain Director Mike Leahy organized a press tour of the area. On the tour, he encountered wild bison that were already enjoying their new-found freedom by dining on grass at the Church Universal and Triumphant north of the park boundary. The tour group also met with landowners on both sides of Yankee Jim Canyon who are willing to live with bison, including a small cattle producer and a large recreational ranch manager.
Take action now to help save some of the last true, wild bison in America.
Here are some photos from our trips to Yellowstone:
The emergence of a tractor announces feeding time at the Stephens Creek bison holding facility where more than 600 bison are being held until spring. Photo courtesy of Lacy Gray/Defenders of Wildlife.
Bison at Stephens Creek
It takes 10 tons of hay per day to feed the captured bison. Photo courtesy of Lacy Gray/Defenders of Wildlife.
Bison at Stephens Creek
Snow-covered mountains rise above the Stephens Creek facility just outside Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of Lacy Gray/Defenders of Wildlife.
Bison press tour
A bison guard has been installed on Highway 89 to prevent bison from moving north into Yankee Jim Canyon. Photo courtesy of Mike Leahy/Defenders of Wildlife.
Bison press tour
Defenders Rocky Mountain Director Mike Leahy had the chance to discuss bison impacts with cattle ranchers and hunters north of Yellowstone. Photo courtesy of Mike Leahy/Defenders of Wildlife.
Bison press tour
The Church Universal and Triumphant has showed tolerance for bison by allowing them to graze on their property north of the park. Photo courtesy of Mike Leahy/Defenders of Wildlife.
Last week I witnessed an endangered species success story first hand. I ventured out to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in eastern Montana to see a few lucky black-footed ferret kits off to their new home. With fewer than 1,000 in the wild, black-footed ferrets are one of the most endangered animals in North America. They feed on prairie dogs and live in prairie dog burrows, and the decline of prairie dogs has led to their precarious state.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe is helping bring black-footed ferrets back from the brink. Tribal representatives – along with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and a group of students from the Boys and Girls Club in nearby Lame Deer, MT – gathered to release the thirteen ferret kits. The kits, which were the third group to be released on the reservation, arrived from the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado, where the species is bred in captivity. The release took place at four separate prairie dog towns on the reservation. Excitement filled the faces of kids and adults alike as the first ferret scurried into the nearest prairie dog hole.
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe began reintroducing black-footed ferrets in 2008. As part of that effort, Tribal authorities granted protection from all prairie dog shooting and poisoning on 10,000 acres of land. Defenders of Wildlife donated $10,000 to assist with this initial protective effort.
As is the case with most of the other 18 black-footed ferret reintroduction sites across the west, there is a catch. Sylvatic plague, an exotic disease to which both prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets have little to no immunity, threatens to undo the hard restoration work. Plague struck many of Northern Cheyenne’s prairie dog towns last year. But the tribe fought back by dusting many active prairie dog burrows to kill the fleas that carry plague. It seemed to work, and now black-footed ferret restoration continues with last week’s ferret releases.
Defenders of Wildlife leads the pack when it comes to protecting wild animals and plants in their natural communities.
