Stockgrowers push for fewer elk tags to control herd size

Ranchers say overpopulation hurts cattle grazing

The Gunnison Stockgrowers Association (GSA) is hoping fewer elk tags issued to area hunters will mean fewer elk and less grazing pressure on the vegetation their cattle rely on throughout the summer months.

In a presentation made to the Board of County Commissioners at a regular meeting on Tuesday, January 13, several members of the GSA appealed to the board for its support in lobbying the Division of Wildlife to lower the number of elk tags offered for Game Management Units (GMU) 54, 55 and 551 during the next five-year Game Management Plan, which starts in 2010.
“We really believe that when the decisions are made by the DOW and community leaders about the management of the elk population, what you have to keep in mind is the land. And the land is starting to suffer from an overpopulation of elk,” said Steve Guerrieri, owner of the Mill Creek Ranch and a member of the GSA.
Although it may seem counterintuitive to reduce the number of problem elk by issuing fewer hunting licenses, the GSA showed evidence that the approach has worked in neighboring counties.
In GMU 54, which covers part of the West Elk Mountains, the elk herd has nearly twice as many animals as the population the DOW considers to be “objective” and it is leading to overgrazing and damage to the forest ground-cover.
In the other two GMUs, the objective herd size is 3,200 elk and there are an estimated 5,500.
Mike Jackson, a wildlife biologist from the Forest Service, told the commissioners, “We’re seeing overgrazing in all three units and a very localized intense effect on specific vegetation like aspen, choke cherry, service berry and willow. So we’re talking about pushing for a limited number of licenses to be issued.”
The plan has the support of the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, both of which have anecdotal evidence of over-grazing, but neither have done any formal studies to support their observations.
According to Guerrieri, data collected from across the state shows that the lower the hunting pressure is in an area, the higher the percentage of successful hunts and the more elk that are harvested in a season.
“As hunters push into the most accessible areas of the county, especially in the north end of the valley, the elk are funneled down into the valley. Add that to the disruption to the elk’s migratory patterns that is caused by new development and the elk don’t know where to go,” said Guerrieri.
And the damage being done isn’t limited to hay meadows or the areas closest to town.
Tony Maldarella, a ranch owner who, like most other area ranchers, grazes his cattle on federal land during the summer months, says the damage being done to vegetation on the forest floor is leading to poor grazing for his cattle.
“The BLM has said that the grazing permitees are the only factor that they can control and if the forest is being over-grazed, they would see it as a problem with cattle grazing and not with the elk,” said Maldarella.
Lee Spann, owner of the Spann ranch land that is spread across the Gunnison Valley, said that without the right to graze on federal land, no rancher in the valley could survive.
But while most people at the meeting agreed that limiting the number of licenses available would reduce the number of elk, the issue of elk refuges in the county was left for a February work session.
Landowner and hunter Brad Phelps brought up several areas of the county where elk can hide on private property, out of reach of hunters.
“We can kill every elk in the county, but if the elk can just hide out on the ranches down Ohio Creek, on the Danni Ranch, the Reserve and other private property, we’ll never reach an objective herd size,” said Phelps.
That issue and others will be dealt with at the second work session in February, before the commissioners make their choice about whether or not to sign on in support of the effort to limit the number of licenses issued for the three GMUs.