Elk Feedgrounds
March 2024 Update
The Wyoming Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan represents a significant milestone for the Game and Fish Department. This final plan has been carefully crafted through a collaborative effort involving various stakeholders and the public. The feedback received during the review process was invaluable, leading to revisions and improvements in the final plan. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved the plan at the March 12, 2024 meeting in Pinedale allowing the Department to start the next phase of the process, Feedground Management Action Plans.
Wyoming Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan
Download the final Wyoming Elk Feedgrounds Management Plan approved by the Game and Fish Commission in March 2024 here.
Feedground Information
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department manages several elk feedgrounds in northwest Wyoming. Over the years, the supplemental winter feeding of elk has grown in complexity. Among the complexities are wildlife diseases, specifically increasing concerns about the spread of chronic wasting disease across the State. While there are benefits to feeding elk on feedgrounds, there are also challenges, which is why the Department is preparing to develop a plan that will guide the long-term (ten years and beyond) management of feedgrounds.
“Given the growing complexities of feedgrounds, I feel strongly we are at a point where we needed to talk to the public and give all the facts on the Department’s approach,” said Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik, “People may be familiar with feedgrounds as it relates to their interests but don’t know the ‘why’ behind the Game and Fish decisions. This is an educational effort.”
To assist future management decisions, the Game and Fish has initiated a multi-phased effort to gather public input. Elk Feedgrounds - A Challenge We Can Take On began in 2020 with several public meetings or shared-learning sessions about elk feedgrounds in Wyoming.
Roadmap of the Feedground Public Process
Click here for Shared Learning content on Elk Feedgrounds.
The ultimate goal of the Elk Feedgrounds: A Challenge We Can Take On is to consider all biological, social, economic, and political issues, along with wildlife diseases, to achieve a durable, publicly supported long-term feedgrounds management plan for the Department operated elk feedgrounds. The Phase I target completion date was mid-January 2021. Phase I of the elk feedgrounds collaborative process was launched in 2020 with the development of a Department feedground steering team (Steering Team). The goals of Phase I are to:
- Share information related to feedground history, objectives of the program, and the complexities that have evolved related to continuing feeding operations, and
- Secure public and stakeholder feedback that will lead to future strategy and policy development for the State of Wyoming feedground program and set the conditions for Phase II.
For more information on the Phase I process and to learn what we heard, review the Phase I Final Report provided by Tara Kuipers Consulting.
Phase I Feedgrounds Public Process Summary Report
Elk Feedgrounds: A Challenge We Can Take On Phase I public meeting recording
Elk Feedgrounds: A Challenge We Can Take On Q&A Session meeting recording