Idaho Mountain Express: Land sale prompted end to elk feeding

Friday, November 16, 2012

Land sale prompted end to elk feeding

Owner says Timber Gulch property is on market

By KATHERINE WUTZ
Express Staff Writer

Elk move through the central Wood River Valley last winter. Photo by Mountain Express

Real estate developer Harry Rinker confirmed on Wednesday that elk feeding has been discontinued on his 790-acre Timber Gulch property because he has put the property up for sale.

The Golden Eagle Homeowners' Association voted earlier this year to discontinue feeding elk this winter in Timber Gulch—south of Ketchum near Greenhorn Gulch Road—despite the fact that elk have been fed in the area for more than 20 years.

“It’s been a considerable number of years that they have fed elk there,” Rinker said. “But it’s not me who has been feeding the elk. I told [the homeowners’ association] that I wanted to put the property up for sale, and it would be necessary to discontinue that.”

Rinker said that some access to the land has changed, but only the access to the area where residents used to feed the elk. The property would not necessarily be developed, he said, though he would like to sell it.

“The most logical use would be for someone who has horses and who wanted to have a large area to ride them in,” he said.

However, he said that access to the Timber Gulch hiking trails has not changed. Pedestrian access is still available at the north side of a fence that blocks off the parcel from the rest of Timber Gulch. Rinker said that that access would remain open for the foreseeable future.

“It has not been blocked in any way,” he said.

The board of the Golden Eagle Homeowners’ Association had not responded at press time to questions regarding when it decided to completely discontinue elk feeding and if it as a board would seek an alternate site in the future.

Jerome Hansen, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Magic Valley regional supervisor, said earlier this month that suddenly stopping the elk feed in the area may lead to wildlife conflicts on nearby Highway 75.

He said he is concerned that parts of the 300-animal herd may attempt to cross the highway in search of food this winter, exacerbating the existing conflicts in the area.

Hansen added that a phased approach to stopping feeding, in which feed is given out less often or is slowly moved, may have been more effective.

Kate Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
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