NEWS                                                                                                                               

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 8, 2010

Contact: Don Canton or Ryan Bernstein
(701) 328-2200

HOEVEN, STEINWAND: STATE WILL WORK TO HELP IMPLEMENT NPS PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE

 
            BISMARCK, N.D. – The National Park Service today released its preferred alternative for thinning the elk herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The plan includes using certified volunteers to lower the elk population in the park. According to Gov. John Hoeven, the approach is essentially an alternative previously recommended by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to federal officials.

Last September, Gov. Hoeven along with U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan announced that the National Park Service (NPS) and the state of North Dakota had reached an agreement in principle for qualified volunteers to help thin the elk herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park and allow the hunters to keep the meat. Today’s NPS announcement formalizes the agreement in the form of a preferred alternative.

“Based on what we have seen, this plan is very close to what our Game and Fish experts recommended in September 2007,” said Gov. John Hoeven. “The techniques and provisions in the preferred alternative appear at this point to be acceptable. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department will continue to work with the Park Service to ensure the plan is brought to a successful conclusion.”

Hoeven and Game and Fish Director Terry Steinwand said it was important that skilled volunteers have an opportunity to harvest the elk with firearms, and be able to keep the meat – two issues about which the Governor and Game and Fish Department had been adamant about since the Park Service started developing an Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

“Both of these components are essential to garnering public support for the preferred alternative,” Steinwand said. “Unless something unforeseen happens, it is our intention to give our support to the NPS and the preferred alternative.”

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