As CWD Spreads, Elk Occupancy Agreements Give Wyoming Elk Room to Roam

by Sophie Tsairis

Amid the spread of a deadly wildlife disease, Wyoming ranchers are being paid to move their cattle and let wild elk take their place during winter’s harshest months. This unconventional strategy may be one vital tool in what wildlife managers say must become a diverse arsenal for combating the always-fatal chronic wasting disease. It could be a winning approach to helping preserve both wildlife populations and ranching traditions across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Wyoming has a controversial, century-old tradition of feeding elk during winter months on densely populated feedgrounds around the state. As the practice continues to trigger growing disease transmission concerns, the nonprofit Greater Yellowstone Coalition has expanded its “elk occupancy agreements” program to a third Wyoming property, offering ranchers financial incentives to relocate their cattle from December to April so migrating elk can safely utilize natural winter ranges. The program directly addresses mounting concerns about CWD and brucellosis transmission on feedgrounds where elk artificially congregate.

"Having these elk occupancy agreements in place will likely be a pivotal tool in doing things differently in the future," said Brad Hovinga, Wyoming Game and Fish Department's Jackson regional supervisor.

The voluntary initiative began in 2019 with two Teton County ranches and Lincoln County's Spring Creek Ranch, a fourth-generation operation, recently joined on. Similar programs have expanded to Montana's Paradise Valley, where GYC and the Property and Environmental Research Center, known as PERC, partnered to preserve nearly 500 acres of crucial winter habitat in 2021.

Teddy Collins, Wyoming conservation associate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, told Mountain Journal that by working with landowners and wildlife managers to facilitate these agreements, the conservation organization aims to provide a management tool that reduces conflict between elk and cattle, increases tolerance and provides an additional strategy to move away from feedgrounds.

Collins says wildlife managers can use the program as a blueprint for future landowner agreements, and Wyoming Game and Fish has already incorporated the strategy into its Elk Feedground Management Plan, which it finalized in March 2024.

While programs like these that focus on private lands are not new concepts, organizations like GYC and wildlife agencies utilize a variety of initiatives and land easements as conservation tools nationwide.

In the case of Wyoming, the landowner agreements are being used for more than habitat and wildlife conservation. Elk migrate each year from high elevations in warmer months to lower-elevation winter range, much of which is private ranchland, causing conflict between elk and livestock. Ongoing issues include disease transmission, property damage and a lack of available habitat for elk, which is why state and federal agencies began feeding elk on feedgrounds in the first place.

Of the 21 state-run feedgrounds in Wyoming, positive CWD cases have been detected on four in western Wyoming. This spring, Wyoming Game and Fish released its 2024 CWD Surveillance Report. Its Health Laboratory tested a total of 5,276 samples for chronic wasting disease from mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose, and nearly 14 percent came back positive. Hunter-harvested elk samples alone showed a 2.3 percent positivity rate.

According to the report, CWD was detected in three new zones in 2024 — elk hunt areas 23, 84 and 126. Earlier this year, the department discovered the disease in three additional elk hunt areas — 62, 87 and 93 — and on four elk feedgrounds in western Wyoming.

Elk occupancy agreements have shown early signs of success. In Lincoln County, where emergency winter feeding was previously routine, Hovinga reported "no negative repercussions, only huge benefits" after the first year.

While Wyoming Game and Fish continues developing feedground action plans for all six elk herds currently dependent on supplemental feeding, Collins hopes the program will eventually transition from philanthropy-funded operations to state-run programs. He added that the agency has played an instrumental function in the success of the agreements to date.  

“In the long-term vision of the plan, I think that elk occupancy agreements play a huge role as a way to allow us to do things differently as we move forward in reducing elk reliance on supplemental feed,” Hovinga said.  

He emphasized that feedgrounds have been a tool Wyoming has used for the past 100 years to help elk populations and there is currently no intent to close them altogether, adding that the state may always feed elk in some fashion every year.

“Making a change is not going to happen quickly, and we need to make sure we have public support in a way that all of our constituents are OK with,” Hovinga said. “It’s a long-term process to reach the ultimate goal of reducing reliance on feedgrounds and maintaining healthier herd statuses as we move forward.”