DORGAN PRESSES INTERIOR SECRETARY NOMINEE TO TAKE COMMON SENSE APPROACH ON ELK CULL
Senator urges Ken Salazar to allow volunteers to thin the elk herd on Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan today pressed the Interior Secretary nominee, Senator Ken Salazar, to change the position of the National Park Service on how to thin the elk herd in North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Dorgan wants the federal government to use some common sense and save money by allowing qualified North Dakota volunteers to thin the elk herd.
The Park Service originally talked about hiring federal sharpshooters and having helicopters transport out the meat. Now they have indicated they could allow certified volunteers to shoot the elk but they would not allow them to keep the meat from the elk kill.
Dorgan believes that qualified volunteers should be allowed to both thin the herd and be given the option to donate the meat to food pantries or keep it.
“Why on earth would the federal government spend money to thin the elk herd when qualified volunteers would accomplish the same result without spending a dime?” Dorgan said.
Secretary designate Salazar promised to review the policies of the Park Service to see if the authority exists to allow qualified volunteers to cull and keep the meat under current law.
Senator Dorgan said the restriction on hunting in national parks was never meant to prohibit the rational thinning of an elk herd, for example, by qualified volunteers selected by the Park Service. If federal legislation is needed, however, Senator Dorgan said that he would pursue that avenue.
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