Tim Preso, Managing Attorney, Biodiversity Program, Earthjustice: “This is the opportunity to preempt that problem.”

Plaintiffs in this case challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s issuance on December 31, 2019 of an unlawful and inadequate Step-Down Plan for reducing the Service’s program for artificial feeding of wild elk wintering on the Jackson Hole National Elk Refuge, where feeding exposes the elk to a host of severe disease threats.

Lawsuit targets new plan that leaves elk vulnerable to chronic wasting disease

A conservation coalition filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, asking a judge to order the agency to issue a long-overdue plan to phase out elk feeding on the Jackson Hole National Elk Refuge. The outdated and unnecessary practice of supplemental feeding threatens to accelerate the spread of wildlife diseases — including lethal chronic wasting disease, which was detected for the first time in November in Grand Teton National Park adjacent to the Refuge.

Urgency builds for new methods at National Elk Refuge as chronic wasting disease confirmed in Grand Teton National Park

Plan urgently needed after chronic wasting disease detected in Grand Teton

A letter sent by Earthjustice, on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and the Sierra Club, urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to promptly issue a feeding phase-out plan that was promised by the agency in 2008, but has been held up for more than 10 years due to wrangling between federal and Wyoming officials.

Scientific analysis of artificial feeding in National Elk Refuge, by Eric Cole, Refuge Biologist, National Elk Refuge

Harmful practice of winter feeding leads to overcrowding and diseases

Appeal earlier ruling allowing artificial winter feeding

Phasing out annual winter feedings needed to protect elk, other wildlife

Conservation organizations argue that artificial winter feedings are detrimental to elk and their habitat

The state of Wyoming operates 23 winter feeding grounds for elk, many of them on federal lands. These feeding grounds artificially concentrate elk populations, which fuels the spread of diseases such as brucellosis and creates the prospect of a major chronic wasting disease epidemic. Conservationists sued to compel long overdue environmental analysis of alternatives to…

Experts Warn That Elk Feedgrounds Are Breeding Grounds For Disease

Action requested to prevent chronic wasting disease epidemic