[birdman]

4th elk culled under Rocky Mountain National Park plan

By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post

Posted: 02/04/2009 10:54:13 AM MST
Updated: 02/04/2009 11:00:32 AM MST


ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK — Sunrise over Upper Beaver Meadows in Rocky Mountain National Park was brilliant this morning - not a wisp of wind, the mountains above the meadow dazzling with newly fallen snow.
In the peaceful meadow grazed 200 elk with one cow elk standing out from the group on the far western fringes.

At 8 a.m., a single shot rang out.

The solitary cow elk fell, killed instantly by the bullet fired from a sharp-shooter.
The rest of the herd bolted eastward about 150 yards, then stopped and looked around.

The group of sharp shooters - made up of two National Park Service employees, a Colorado Division of Wildlife representative and two expert volunteers - moved out of the trees and towards the cow elk that had just been culled.

At that point, the remainder of the herd disappeared into the thick forest on the southside of the meadow.

The elk culled this morning was the fourth in the beginning of a that has been 12 years in the making. Two were shot last week, one on Tuesday and the one this morning.

Up to 100 cow elk will be culled between now and early March in an effort to keep the elk herd in the park in the 600-to-800 range.

The culling is an effort to restore the natural balance to Rocky Mountain National Park, where an overabundance of elk has destroyed vital stands of willow and aspen.

The loss of the willow and aspen has had a huge negative impact on the park's water table, other plant species and birds, butterflies and especially beaver, whose population in the elk's primary range had declined 90 percent since 1940.
Research has shown that the elk herd in the park and the Estes Valley is larger, less migratory, and more concentrated than it would be under natural conditions. As a result, willow and aspen stands are declining, depriving other wildlife of important habitat they need.

Tuesday night and again before dawn this morning, teams of Park Service scouts were out trying to find the elk, which are one of the biggest attractions of the park.
Stationed near the scouts were two teams of sharp-shooters, ready to move on a moment's notice.

They work in a tight time-frame.

Their work, which consists of culling up to two to elk a day must be completed by 9 a.m., when visitors start arriving in earnest at the park.

"We are making sure we are in and out to minimize the impact on visitors," said Ben Bobowski, the park's chief of resource stewardship.

"We don't take this lightly," Bobowski added. "It is difficult for us to go out and take an animal."

One of the civilian volunteer sharp-shooters, who underwent rigorous examination by both federal and state authorities before being selected to join the two teams, said today that he was taking part because of his concern for the park and because the destruction the elk have caused.

"I have a passion for these animals," said the volunteer sharp-shooter who officials asked to be identified only as "Bruce."

"The eco-system is absolutely destroyed. It is a kind of a responsibility to help manage the herd," Bruce said.

"Bruce" regularly fishes in the park and has been involved in culling before, both of bison and elk at a Colorado guest ranch. He is an expert marksman.

Kyle Patterson, park spokeswoman, emphasized this morning that hunting in the park is strictly prohibited. People that violate the law and "hunt" in the park are poachers and are prosecuted if caught.

What is going on in the next five weeks is "culling" - a conservation tool to reduce animal population that have exceeded the carrying capacity of their habitat, said Patterson.

Just how carefully the culling process is being undertaken, in what Bobowski says is an effort to show respect for the elk and regard for visitors, was evident around 7 a.m. today.

High on steep terrain above a park road, one team of sharp-shooters had spotted a group of cow elk. For more than 30 minutes, the team watched the cows. But they abandoned plans to try to take one of the cows, fearing that if they fired and wounded the animal instead of killing it, they wouldn't have been able to follow it and quickly dispatch it. Further, they feared a bullet might fly over the ridge line and hit an unintended target.

"They need to have a direct, humane shot," said Patterson. "They want to make it a humane shot."

Because of the steep slope, they couldn't guarantee that, so the 7 a.m. plan was scrapped, she said.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com