The Wyoming Game and Fish Department begins to draft a long-term elk feedgrounds management plan to help guide elk management in western Wyoming for the foreseeable future, according to a press release from the Wyoming Game and Fish.

This plan is the next step in the department’s elk feedgrounds collaborative process.

Game and Fish began a two-phase collaborative effort to evaluate their 22 state-administered elk feedgrounds in late 2020.

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The public process was designed to develop a long-term elk feedgrounds management plan to chart a long-range course forward for the agency.

The ultimate goal of the process is to consider all biological, social, economic, and political issues, along with wildlife diseases, to attain a durable, publicly supported long-term feedgrounds management plan for the Department operated elk feedgrounds. 

The first phase began in 2020 with the development of a Department feedground steering team. 

The Wyoming Game and Fish is currently securing public and stakeholder feedback to lead the development of future strategy and policy for the feedground program in Wyoming and set the conditions of Phase II. 

Director Brian Nesvik, who started the public collaborative effort, said, “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. 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 for Phase II, designed to discuss the most current information on several of the complex aspects of feedgrounds and elk management in northwest Wyoming” said the release."

“After several months of shared learning sessions and input from 60 volunteer stakeholders from across the state, the department’s elk feedgrounds steering team is now beginning to draft a long-term feedgrounds management plan. Game and Fish intends to have a draft plan for review by stakeholders and the public this coming winter. 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.”

 

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