In an effort to restore natural conditions in Rocky Mountain National Park, two teams of sharpshooters will begin culling up to 100 cow elk within the park’s boundaries in the next few weeks, park officials say.
The cull is the culmination of a decade of research and is the direct result of what researchers say has been the destruction of valuable willow and aspen stands because of too many elk. The plan received final federal approval last February.
Vaughn Baker, superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park, said that the Park Service is conducting the culling with the public in mind.
“We are doing this with the utmost care — that this, in fact, is a national park with visitors,” said Baker.
During the culling, the areas where it is taking place will be closed to the public.
At present, there are two populations of elk — the 600 to 800 in the park itself and 1,000 to 1,300 in and around Estes Park, just beyond the eastern border of the park.
Only the animals in the park are being targeted.
Kyle Patterson, park spokeswoman, said the Park Service would like to keep the number of elk in the park in the 600 to 800 range, “so obviously we are close to that range right now.”
WildEarth Guardians, an environmental organization, has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver to block the culling, maintaining that gray wolves should be introduced into the park to naturally reduce the elk by wolf predation.
But Rob Edward, a spokesman for the organization, said that no decision is expected from the court until March, at the earliest.
“In the meantime, the Park Service can proceed with culling, as there’s no injunction against it,” said Edward.
The operation is designed to be humane and swift, said Ben Bobowski, the park’s chief of resource stewardship.
“The goal is to have a one-shot humane kill,” said Bobowski. “Each team is set up with a primary shooter and a secondary shooter, and we also have what we call a rover. And each shooter will have a spotter.”
Teams include Park Service and Colorado Division of Wildlife employees as well as screened volunteers.
Each animal that is shot will be tested for chronic wasting disease. Those that test positive will go to a mountain lion research project being conducted by the state.
The meat from those that test negative will be sent to members of the public who participated in a lottery held earlier this month.
Researchers say the continuation of high elk densities could result in the complete loss of aspen trees in the elk’s core winter range. Elk browsing stunts the growth or kills all young aspen trees.
The elk also are severely inhibiting the ability of the willow to reproduce. Few of the willows on the elk’s primary winter range produce seed, and seedling survival is almost nonexistent, according to researchers.
As a result, there is a huge impact on birds, butterflies, plant species and the beaver population.
Since 1940, with the disappearance of trees they need for building lodging and dams, the beaver population on the elk’s primary range has declined more than 90 percent.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
