Historic Elk Migrations Around Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Authors(s): C. M. Cromley

Publication: Yale F&ES Bulletin

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Publication Date: 0000-00-00

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Abstract: Natural Resource managers today are facing increasingly complex challenges when deciding how to manage elk in and around Jackson Hole. One challenge is how to handle the unintended consequences, such as increased likelihood of disease transmission, from feed grounds around Jackson and around the state. Historical migrations might have prevented some of the problems experienced now with high concentrations of elk. This paper attempts to answer two questions: Where did the elk that spent the summer in the Jackson Hole region spend their winters before and around the time of white settlement? What effects did white settlement have on elk habitat and natural migration patterns? This study mainly concerns migrations through Jackson Hole and those to the Green River Basin. The evidence in the primary and secondary sources suggests that elk did indeed migrate through Jackson Hole to the Green River Basin and Red Desert area of Wyoming. However, settlement of the area by the whites around the turn of the century seems to have shortened these migration routes, so that elk now over-winter in Jackson. However, it may be that a population of elk always stayed in Jackson Hole. The study concludes that re-establishing historical migration routes my be an ecologically and biologically viable option.

Keywords: Jackson Hole, National Elk Refuge, Teton County, animal, mammal, ungulate, elk, wapiti, Cervus elaphus, Cervidae, wildlife, management, population, mortality, winter food supplementation, food, feeding, forage, disease, brucellosis, migration, human activity, Green River, Red Desert