By Mike Koshmrl
Every year, thousands of wapiti wait out winter on the National Elk Refuge, a nearly 40-square-mile federal wildlife refuge that was formed 112 years ago in the heart of Jackson Hole.
Spring is typically a time of migration, when herds shoot out in every direction: toward subdivisions along the Snake River, into Grand Teton National Park, up the Gros Ventre River corridor and even to Yellowstone National Park. But the low floor of the Elk Refuge is also among the first areas in the valley to green up, and sometimes herds linger and need to be hazed away to allow the grasslands to replenish themselves — and sustain the same elk in the winter to come.
Pictured, a lingering herd faces a last blast of winter on the flats west of Curtis Canyon on the first day of May.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
