Group fights permits for elk feeding grounds

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — An Idaho environmental group is challenging a 2008 U.S. Forest Service decision that permitted five elk feedgrounds in the Jackson Hole area of northwest Wyoming.

The Western Watersheds Project has filed a lawsuit that argues Bridger-Teton National Forest officials violated their own forest plan, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wyoming Wilderness Act in approving the feedgrounds.

Travis Bruner, of Western Watersheds Project, tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/1lczzz2) that the group contends the Forest Service didn’t sufficiently analyze the consequences of the feedgrounds, such as the spread of disease.

The elk feeding areas are run by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to help elk survive the winter.

Eight years ago a Western Watersheds Project administrative appeal of the permit was rejected by the agency.