Sun Valley Mayor Wayne Willich revealed his plan at a public meeting Wednesday for reinstituting elk feeding in Elkhorn, but refused to let anyone—including the half dozen members of Idaho Fish and Game taking up a whole row of seats—comment on the plan.
Fish and Game has historically been of the opinion that feeding should be avoided, except in specific circumstances. That didn't change Wednesday night. In an interview following the meeting, Fish and Game's Magic Valley regional manager, Jerome Hansen, said feeding is a short-term solution that the department would like to get away from.
"We would like to absolutely not feed if we don't have to," Hansen said.
He said preferable alternatives would be downsizing the Sun Valley herd or moving it to a nearby winter range, such as Independence, Parker or Keystone gulches.
But Willich didn't want to hear a peep from Fish and Game on Wednesday. He prefaced the meeting by saying it would be more of a "lecture" by which he'd present the city with a problem and ask the City Council "to do something."
He started the meeting by presenting a stack of resident-reported wolf and cougar sightings. He said wolves hunting elk in town is "unsettling" to people.
"And these people are taxpayers," he said. "That's why I bring it up."
He said there's a pattern of increasing risk, claiming that since elk aren't being fed, they're roaming through town and attracting predators. He said that as these predators become used to humans, first pets and eventually people would be in danger.
"Public officials have to ring some sort of alarm bell." Willich said.
Willich was ringing that bell. And he already had a suggested plan for the council to consider supporting in a resolution. Willich suggested the Wood River Elk Trust—of which his wife, Christine Willich, is president—feed the elk on a ridge above the cul-de-sac of Fireweed Road. He said the hope is that this would keep the elk, and therefore the predators, out of town.
Willich said he's not suggesting the city financially support the feeding.
"Just moral support," he said.
But the city's support doesn't go far if the Sun Valley Elkhorn Association doesn't grant approval to the elk trust. The homeowners' association owns the proposed land for feeding and turned down the elk trust in late September when it wanted to feed in the same area.
At that time, the elk trust was proposing an alternative to feeding elk at The Community School's campus on Sagewillow Road. That longtime feeding operation was terminated in 2007 after a conflict with neighboring homeowners who argued that it was drawing elk into residential neighborhoods.
The homeowners' association turned down the feeding proposal at the advice of Fish and Game, which said that if the elk were not fed, they would eventually return to natural nearby winter ranges. At the time, Fish and Game's Magic Valley regional wildlife biologist, Regan Berkley, said it would probably take five years of no feeding for the elk to move away from the area into nearby gulches.
In a phone interview, Sun Valley Elkhorn Association Director Crispin Thiessen said the association is "always" willing to revisit and vote on the feeding issue.
"We recognize everyone's got an interest here," Thiessen said. "It's not an easy problem."
Christine Willich said the elk trust will speak with the association before March 11 about the possibility of feeding. March 11 is when the elk trust will go before the City Council to present its plan. Christine Willich said feeding would only occur during the winter months of January to March when elk are struggling to find food.
"Everything would be portable," she said, "so, in the summer, there would be no sign we were even there."
She said feeding would cost about $20,000 for the first season, and the 501c3 nonprofit would be relying on donations.
If the homeowner's association doesn't approve the feeding, Willich said, Plan B would be to "remove" any predators found in the city.
"Plan B we do already," said Hansen, referring to Fish and Game.
Hansen said wildlife conflicts have been few this mild winter, but it's the kind of "constant issue" experienced by many mountain towns in the West. It comes with the territory.
Hansen said Willich showed him—a few weeks ago—the pictures of wolves, elk and mountain lions taken from inside Sun Valley homes.
"I told the mayor, 'Man, you're lucky. I wish I had this view out of my window,'" Hansen said.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
A herd of elk feast on human-provided feed in Elkhorn during the winter of 2006. Photo by Mountain Express
