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HSUS Trying to Overturn Elk Management Plan in Rocky Mountain National Park

The nation’s largest anti-hunting group has joined a federal court case to block volunteer hunters from helping to control elk populations in Rocky Mountain National Park. The case could lead to a political precedent dangerous to federal wildlife managers’ ability to involve the public in hands-on wildlife management programs.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) on December 10 filed an amicus brief in a case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado The brief is part of an effort to block a National Park Service (NPS) plan to use qualified volunteers to assist it in reducing the overpopulation of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). 

While hunting is not allowed in the RMNP under federal law, the NPS is responsible for managing wildlife populations on the land and culling their numbers under certain circumstances.  Earlier this year, the NPS referred to the results of a seven-year research project that found that the elk herd in the RMNP: “is larger, less migratory, and more concentrated than it would be under natural conditions.”  Consequently, food supplies for both elk and other wildlife within the RMNP were becoming inadequate and had the potential to result in starvation and outbreaks of disease.

In December, 2007, the NPS issued a management plan whereby certain, qualified individuals may serve as volunteers to assist the NPS staff in culling elk.  Click Here for the NPS fact sheet on the management plan.

In March, 2008 a group called WildEarth Guardians filed suit in the District Court to block the NPS management plan.  The group claims the NPS is violating the Endangered Species Act by not reintroducing wolves into the park and providing a “natural” way of culling the elk overpopulation.   

Instead of recognizing the problems surrounding the use wolves as a means of population control and embracing a legitimate and scientifically valid way of managing elk population, HSUS took advantage of this case in order to accuse “extreme” hunting groups of trying to gut long standing NPS policy.  Of course, this is a spurious charge given that allvolunteers would be serving directly under the authority of NPS personnel, acting under stringent guidelines set forth by the agency.

According to Rick Story, Senior Vice President for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA), “This is simply another smokescreen by HSUS to end as much hunting as possible in America,” he said.  “The truth is that too many elk in the RMNP could lead to disaster, including spread of disease which would have a far more devastating impact on their numbers. But, that won’t be the anti-hunters’ problem to solve.”