"This is the typical situation we warn people about with feeding deer and elk. Most wildlife do not need to be fed to get them through the winter."
—Dave Parrish, IDFG regional supervisor
With new owners and new ideas in place at Warm Springs Ranch, the future of an elk herd that has historically gathered on the Ketchum-area property appears to be uncertain.
An Idaho Department of Fish and Game official said this week that the agency is monitoring the movements of the elk and might—if they continue to congregate on the site—elect to relocate the animals or have some of them targeted for hunting.
Dave Parrish, regional supervisor, said the elk that have gathered on the ranch have done so in response to unnatural conditions, mainly because they have been fed there during past winters.
"This is the typical situation we warn people about with feeding deer and elk," Parrish said. "Most wildlife do not need to be fed to get them through the winter."
At issue is the future of some 100 elk that have been congregating each winter on the golf course of the 77-acre Warm Springs Ranch property, located north of downtown Ketchum.
To many area residents, the elk are a symbol of how humans and wild animals can peacefully coexist in a suburban environment. But to others, including Fish and Game officials, the Warm Springs elk are out of place, artificially attracted to an area they might not normally inhabit.
Ketchum resident Monte Straley, working with an organization called the Wood River Elk Trust, has been feeding the elk during the winter months for 14 years. He holds that development has displaced many of the animals from their historic winter ranges, prompting a need for human intervention.
Straley, however, said he is not feeding the elk this winter, primarily because a plan put forth by the new owners of the ranch calls for developing part of the area where the ungulates once gathered to eat hay.
"If they're going to develop that area, there's no room for elk," he said. "The elk have lost out again."
The owner of the ranch, a development group called Sun Valley Ventures, took title to the property last year. The group has proposed to the city of Ketchum to commence a $200 million redevelopment of the property that includes a boutique hotel and approximately 75 condominiums.
Most of the development would occur on the east end of the property, where the Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant now sits. The majority of the decommissioned golf course would become public open space, although three pods of hotel cabins would be situated next to the base of Bald Mountain, near an area the elk have favored.
Kaz Thea, a wildlife biologist consulting Sun Valley Ventures, told Ketchum officials earlier this month that a 37-acre nature preserve planned for the site will enhance habitat for many wildlife species, including elk.
However, Thea said, the Warm Springs Ranch property is not a historic winter range for elk, lending credit to a decision by the owners to not feed the animals. The elk herd will likely survive naturally in alternative wintering areas, she said.
"I think it's a huge benefit to the elk not to have a feeding site," Thea said.
Fish and Game—which on occasion feeds hungry elk outside of Ketchum to prevent them from venturing to lower elevations in the city—has also said it will not feed elk that gather at Warm Springs Ranch.
Feeding wildlife, Parrish said, concentrates animals in large groups, making them unusually susceptible to predation and disease.
In developed areas, Parrish said, elk can become a nuisance to landowners and can cause dangerous car accidents.
Parrish, Straley and Thea have all said they are hopeful the elk will ultimately choose to spend this and future winters in other ranges, off the ranch. So far this winter, Parrish said, only a small herd of 15 to 20 animals has been gathering on Warm Springs Ranch.
The future of the elk, nonetheless, is in question. Parrish said that if Fish and Game discovers the animals are gathering on the ranch in large numbers—despite the absence of a feeding station—the agency might decide to trap and relocate all of the trespassers to more rural habitat.
If that decision was made, Parrish said, the herd's bulls and calves would be trapped and transported some 20 miles outside of town. The cows—which have a greater tendency to return and lead others to the site—would be relocated 80 to 100 miles away.
Another option, Parrish said, would be to target the elk for hunting, possibly through an increase in permits for the area.
"It's something we have to play by ear," Parrish said.
Parrish noted it would cost approximately $100,000 to relocate the greater herd. Sun Valley Ventures would be asked to share in the cost.
"We've explained to the owners that when they bought the property, they bought the problem with it," he said.
Straley said he is worried that, in any event, there might soon be 100 fewer elk in the Wood River Valley.
Parrish said he is confident the majority of any animals relocated would survive, but added that rampant growth in the Wood River Valley will eventually take its toll on the regional elk population.
"The population is going to start declining soon," Parrish said. "We're seeing elk pushed to marginal habitat because of new development."
After enjoying many free meals at Warm Springs Ranch, a Ketchum-area elk herd this year has seen feeding discontinued. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is monitoring the herd to see how many of the animals return to the site. Photo by Willy Cook
