May 22, 2006 8:19 am US/Mountain
Public Meetings Start On Elk Plan For Nat'l Park
ESTES PARK, Colo. (CBS4/AP) ―
Public hearings were scheduled throughout this week to discuss a draft elk management plan for the Rocky Mountain National Park.
Monday night's first meeting will be held in Boulder with others planned in Loveland, Grand Lake and Estes Park.
The National Park Service is taking public comment until July 4 on the plan which was created to reduce the elk population in the park. There were between 2,200 and 3,000 elk now but the goal is to reduce it to 1,700 or less.
Park officials said the elk herds were becoming a nuisance, stopping traffic and eating plants important to other animals.
Scientists said they need to cut the 3,000 animal herd in half and get the remaining animals to spread out across the park. Out of 5 options, the preferred plan is to have park rangers shoot hundreds of elk over the next 4 years.
"We look at the preferred alternative as the quickest, most efficient way to get in there and start working on the problem, right up front," said Therese Johnson, a biologist.
But new shoots like this become elk food before they can grow. Other options include shooting and using elk birth control or re introducing wolves as predators. Biologists preparing for 4 public meetings this week say they've already heard lots of input.
"We've had strong support to do something to manage the elk and vegetation," Johnson said. "It's been mixed as far as what exactly we should do."
The management plan has a no-action option and four other choices, some of which include introducing wolves or shooting the elk to thin the herds.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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