DENVER—An environmental group is asking federal officials not to go through with plans to use sharpshooters to thin the elk herds in Rocky Mountain National Park.
WildEarth Guardians said in a letter sent Wednesday to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and others that the planned culling would violate a long-standing policy against most firearms in national parks.
The Bush administration repealed the ban on loaded concealed firearms, but a gun-control group is suing to have it reinstated.
WildEarth Guardians also said park officials didn’t fully consider the release of wolves to reduce the herds before it decided on sharpshooters.
The National Park Service approved a 20-year plan in 2007 to reduce the elk herd because of overgrazing that has damaged habitat and threatened other species. Park officials will soon dispatch teams of federal and state employees and 22 screened and trained volunteers to shoot up to 100 female elk over the next several weeks.
The number of elk killed each year will depend on the herd’s size. Park officials say it might not be necessary to kill any animals some years.
There are about 600 to 800 elk in the park and 1,000 to 1,300 elk in and around the neighboring town of Estes Park.
“National parks are supposed to be sanctuaries from firearms,” said Rob Edward of the Denver office of WildEarth Guardians. “The National Park Service is using members of the public to solve with rifles that which should be the bailiwick of wolves.”
Salazar has said the Interior Department will review the new rule on firearms in parks and other changes made in the last days of the Bush administration.
Qualified members of the public were allowed on the sharpshooter teams after state wildlife officials and members of Colorado’s congressional delegation pushed to let hunters join. Park officials said the culling isn’t a hunt and will be strictly controlled. Volunteers won’t keep the meat.
In its protest letter, WildEarth Guardians also criticized the elk management plan as a “multi-decade, multimillion-dollar boondoggle” that won’t solve the problem.
Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said the program, including one-time costs for fences to keep elk away from trees and bushes, will cost an estimated $6.3 million. She said the cost and the number of elk killed could be less if the herd size continues to decrease. It peaked between 1997 and 2001.
WildEarth Guardians says wolves have helped control the Yellowstone National Park elk, which grew largely unchecked because of a lack of predators.
Rocky Mountain National Park officials considered using a small number of wolves to reduce the elk herd and keep the animals on the move so they couldn’t damage the vegetation. But they have said they didn’t have the necessary support from state and other federal agencies to release wolves. They also said the park isn’t big enough to contain the wolves long-term.
Edward said the Park Service is mandated to restore ecosystems, including historic predators, and has the authority to do so. He said Rocky Mountain National Park should be the catalyst for restoring gray wolves to the Southern Rockies as Yellowstone was in the Northern Rockies.
Wolves were wiped out in Colorado after decades of hunting and government-backed extermination. It is believed the last wolf in Colorado was killed in 1945.
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On the Net:
Rocky Mountain National Park Elk and Vegetation Management Plan:
WildEarth Guardians:
