Hoeven: Interior Sec. Kempthorne To Decide On Elk Management Plan For Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Press Release

Gov. John Hoeven today met with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Director of the National Park Service Mary Bomar to discuss utilizing qualified volunteers for elk management in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Park Service is currently going through an environmental review process to consider using qualified volunteers, as part of the preferred alternative, to cull elk herds in the national park. That process should be completed by the fall of 2008, according to Hoeven.

Predation has become a challenge for landowners adjacent to the park. The state plan, developed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, proposes using qualified volunteers to cull the herd rather than paid sharpshooters, euthanasia, fertility controls or other methods proposed by the U.S. Park Service. Hoeven pressed the secretary for the state plan, which would entail a controlled hunt by qualified sportsmen and women supervised by wildlife officials. In their conversations this morning, and a subsequent letter, Sec. Kempthorne indicated that the Park Service would evaluate the use of qualified volunteers in the elk management process.

"We believe that the National Park Service should allow North Dakotans to participate as qualified volunteers, and we pressed that case with the Park Service and Sec. Kempthorne," Hoeven said. "We are very pleased that secretary and Director Bomar have directed the agency to fully evaluate and seriously consider allowing North Dakotans to participate. We will work with them to include qualified volunteers, and we anticipate that both the hearing process and a draft environmental impact statement will be completed by the spring of 2008. The final record of decision will be completed by the fall of 2008, which we believe should and will include qualified volunteers."

"We very much appreciate Sec. Kempthorne's and Director Bomar's work on this issue, and feel that by working with the National Park Service ,we will come the best resolution to manage the elk population," Hoeven said.

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