Say Anything Blog

WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has included language in a bill that cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee that will ensure a common-sense plan is adopted to thin the elk herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Dorgan, a member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, included the elk language in that panel’s annual appropriations bill. The provision requires any plan implemented by the National Park Service to use North Dakota hunters as volunteers and allow them to keep the meat – a model that has been used successfully in Grand Teton National Park. The elk herd is growing too large to be supported by the park’s habitat, and needs to be thinned.
“I’ve been pushing the National Park Service for more than two years to come up with a common sense plan to thin the elk herd after I saw that they were considering hiring federal sharpshooters and using helicopters to transport the meat out of the park,” Dorgan said.
“However, every indication I have gotten from the Park Service is that they will not be recommending the model that exists in Grand Teton National Park where the Park Service allows qualified hunters to thin the herd and allows them to keep the meat. The amendment I got passed by the Appropriations panel yesterday will require the Park Service to use some common sense and save the taxpayers money at the same time.
“The plan does not open up any regular hunting season in the national parks. Rather, it allows the Park Service to use qualified hunters to do the job under Park Service supervision, just as they do in Grand Teton.”