Officials say elk population stable in N. Yellowstone region

Officials say the elk population in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park and southern Montana is stable after dropping over the past few years.

The Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group counted 4,900 elk in the region this winter. That’s up from last year’s count of 4,840 elk, but still down sharply from the highest count in recent years, when biologists saw more than 6,000 in 2010. That’s down from 19,000 in the mid-1990s.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports the new trend toward stability comes after a set of mild winters, and that there’s a possibility that harsher winters could change that in the future.