The Wyoming Game & Fish Department will continue with Phase II of the new elk feedground plan. During this summer, WGFD started Phase II with a series of public meetings. These meetings were to discuss the next steps in the public collaborative and invite interested members of the public to sign on as stakeholders. During these meetings, it was decided that the WGFD would move forward with Phase II.
Phase II Feedground Plan
Beginning in early November, WGDFD will host weekly learning opportunities for stakeholders. These more in-depth sessions will educate stakeholders on elk feedground issues that were identified during Phase I. Attendees are encouraged to share their perspectives on elk feedgrounds. However, the WGFD asks that people keep the discourse civil.
“Through this process, we would like stakeholders to get past simply being ‘for or against’ elk feedgrounds. We want to engage in discussions that collaboratively come up with creative ways to manage elk in northwestern Wyoming. Game and Fish must manage elk in ways that will mitigate disease transmission to cattle and between elk and other wildlife species. Other primary objectives of the Game and Fish include reducing private property damage, maintaining publicly-supported elk population objectives and hunting opportunity, while also managing elk competition with other species like mule deer on critical winter range habitats.” – Scott Edberg, Deputy Chief of Wildlife and Chair of the Elk Feedgrounds Steering Team.
The initial draft of the new plan is scheduled for public review in June 2022. Changes will be made based on public and stakeholder feedback. After the changes are made the plan will go before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission sometime in the spring of 2023. The plan should be approved and in-play sometime in the fall of 2023.
You can read more about elk feedgrounds by clicking here. Likewise, you can check out our Wyoming hunting news page by clicking here.
