An inside look at working with the majestic elk—and the controversies surrounding their conservation.

Excerpt from Our National Elk Herds: A Program for Conserving the Elk on National Forests About the Yellowstone National Park In the region now comprising the Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding national forests the elk early found an ideal sum mer home. In fall they drifted out of the mountains ahead of the storms and snow, scattering over the bordering open valleys and plains where the snowfall was light and where nourishing dry grasses were plentiful. At this season they often worked their way from 100 to more than 200 miles from their summer feeding grounds. In spring they followed the melting snow back to the high mountains, above the zone of the annoying flies, where the climate was cool and refreshing, the forest offering grateful cover. And where fresh and succulent feed abounded. Then came the settlers with the activities of civilization in many ways so disturbing to wild life. Their fields occupied lands formerly the winter home of the elk; their fences obstructed free movement, especially in the fall and spring migrations; and their introduction of domestic stock consumed the winter feed. In addition, thousands of animals were killed each year. Elk were never so wantonly slaughtered as the buffalo, -but their meat and hides were used by the settlers, they were sought by sportsmen from near and far, and hundreds of thousands were sacrificed by irresponsible market and tooth hunters. With the increase of live stock on the ranges a grow ing con ict resulted between the interests of the elk and those of the stockmen. As a result the elk were steadily reduced in numbers and the winter home of the survivors more and more narrowly restricted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."