Federal court rules in favor of National Park Service

The U.S. Court of Appeals decided that the National Park Service does not need to substantively assess the elk hunt every year to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports the court found last week that a decade-old plan, a 2007 environmental impact statement, was adequate.

Jackson Hole residents Tim Mayo, a realtor, and Kent Nelson, a wildlife advocate, sued the park service in 2014 for how Grand Teton National Park assesses its annual elk hunt. Mayo dropped out after a district court ruled in the agency’s favor in 2016, but Nelson appealed.

The federal appeals court did not issue a ruling on another of Mayo and Nelson’s arguments: That the National Elk Refuge’s failure to reduce supplemental elk feeding was unlawful.