The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-04-20
BIC ELK HERDS
 FACE FAMINE IN
 LISP PRESERVES
Big Shows and No Hay at Anv Price Causes Deaths
 of Many Calves in Vel lowstone Park.

Washington, April 20.-Alarming
 reports of conditions which threat
 en decimation of the Yellowstone elk
 herds are beginning to reach the De-
 partment of Agriculture, both from
 the Jackson's Hole region and from Gardiner, Montana. The danger is said to be due to an exceptionally
 heavy winter snowfall and late on- coming of spring. Deep crusted snow 1 is preventing the elk from obtaining g their usual feed and the weakened
 animals, especially the calves are re-
 ported to be dying rapidly in spite
 of the large supply of hay provided l by the Federal government for such l emergencies This supply, however, 1 has been exhausted.
 The elk which winter around Jack
 sons Hole, is Wyoming are known as
 the southern or Jackson's Hole herd
 and number more than 20,000 The
 northern or Park herd is estimated
 by the park authorities to contain | over 30,0O0. animals According to the reports received by the Forest l Service the losses in the southern herd | may reach even as high a figure as l one-third the entire number, with practically an entire loss of last years calves. In the northern herd condi- tions appear to be less critical, but an immediate spring breakup is eag- erly hoped for by these interested in seeing the elk preserved.
 When I left Gardiner about three weeks ago. said Charles Sheldon, the explorer and naturalist who was se- | lected by the government to represent the sportsmen in the elk census at tempted this spring, t'the elk that ] saw seemed on the whole not in bad condition for this time of year ex- cept the calves, many of which were
 pretty weak. But the snow was un- | usually deep and the elk widely scat 1 tered in search of food. I understand | it has been showing since I left and that considerable losses are thought probable. The winter has been ex- tremely severe and both elk and do- l mestic livestock are bound to suffer
 under such exceptional conditions.
 Because of the depth of the snow it
 was impossible to make the elk cen- sus that we had planned
 ordinarily there isn't enough snow to prevent the elk from getting at their feed. This winter, however, succession of storms has piled the snow up, with the result that the ami mals have become weakened by pro- longed starvation. At Jackson's Hole the Biological Survey had over 500 tons of hay available for feeding the elk, but I understand the supply is now exhausted
 Tn most places feeding the elk is out of the question. Hay costs around $40 a ton and it is almost impossible to get hold of any at that price. The cattle and sheep men are unable to secure enough to feed their stock and willlI am told, probably suffer heavy losses. Even if unlimited amount of hay could be had there would be no way to get it to the elk, since the roads are impossible. Tn many places in the Yellowstone Park region the mails are being carried by men on snowshoes and skis
 Elk preservation is a matter that presents many difficulties It involves problems which can't be solved with out careful study. It would be neith- CT wise nor a possible policy at at tempt exclusion of homesteaders and stockmen from the natural range of the elk to the extent that would be required to insure adequate natural feeding grounds in a year like this.
 At the same time nearly everybody now recognizes that something should
 be done to guard the elk against re-
 curing years of starvation.
 "The solution is evidently some
 form of carefully thought-out control, l under which there will be provision l of sufficinet amount of both sum-
 ner and winter range for a reason able number and also some provision
 Tor utilizing the normal increment of
 the herds instead of letting the elk multiply and starve off.
 TO provide feed for elk the For I est Service has either prohibited or
 greatly restricted grazing on about two million acres on the National
 Forests of the Yellowstone region. This, according to the forestry peo-
 pie, includes by far the larger part
 of the remaining available winter elk
 range on these forests, which can be
 reached by the elk. The most serious
 feature of the situation is that in the
 past the elk have been in the habit or Wlnter1ng largely in open country outside the National Forests and the l Yellowstone Park, on land which is now Tn homesteads. Working out the | right policy calls for expert study of the whole subject along the lines al-
 ready undertaken by the officials in
 charge.
 The entire elk question is now be-
 Ing thus studied, and very carefully. by the Forest Service, National Park
 service, and Biological Survey. I be-
 neve that outsiders should await the
 formulation Of plan by these bu-
 reaus, which will soon be in posses-
 slon of the information necessary to
 soive the problem correctly. First of
 all the present size of the elk herds
 must be accurately determined It
 must then be found out how many
 the available winter range will sun-
 port This will fix the maximum
 size of the heard to be conserved 1 AS the animals multiply above
 tnls maximum, some of the surplus
 should be- used to restock areas in
 other states which are suited to tbe 1 elk What method should be adonted
 TOT the disposal of the further sur | plus remains to be decided
 l Officials of the Department of Ag-
 rlculture point out that, deplorable as
 are the losses which the elk herds
 are now suffering, the situation is not essentially different from that creat.
 ed among domestic livestock bv sea
 sons of unusual severity The natur-
 al increase will, they say, gradually
 bring the herds back to their former
 slze if they are properly protected Both the Forest Service and the Ma l t1onal Park Service are deeply inter | ested in the perpetuation of the elk.