Managing Human-Wildlife Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground Closure in Teton County

Teton County in Western Wyoming is home to large working landscapes, a national park, and the nation’s largest elk herd, the Jackson herd. It is also one of the few places in the Western United States that still operates elk feedgrounds, where the artificial feeding of these large mammals has resulted in high density populations over small areas, leading to increased disease transmission and prevalence. A disease of primary concern is brucellosis (Brucella abortus) which can be transmitted from elk to cattle and result in financial burdens for ranchers through quarantine, depopulation, reduced milk production, or calf abortions. This project aimed to better understand the complex social and ecological dynamics of elk feedgrounds in order to assess the feasibility of implementing financial tools that would mitigate the effects of disease transmission and wildlife presence risks of a simulated feedground closure. Our goal is to help improve human-wildlife coexistence on Wyoming’s private ..., From the larger project, this dataset primarily contains the data and metadata associated with the habitat connectivity model and the forage competition calculations. For additional data, metadata, and code associated with the other parts of the project, see the linked GitHub repository under \"Related Works.\" More detailed methods can be found in the main report, also linked here. 
The main objective of creating a habitat connectivity model for the Jackson herd was to understand where the elk might disperse across the landscape if feeding on the National Elk Refuge (NER) ceases. This informed multiple aspects of our project, such as areas of potential overlap of elk and cattle for the brucellosis risk transmission model and locations of forage competition for the financial analysis. Analyzing where elk may relocate highlights places of management priority, particularly areas where conservation can be improved and stakeholder costs and human-wildlife conflict can be mitigated. To build h..., , This `README.md` file was generated on 2024-05-07 by Justine Lang

## GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Title of the Project: Managing Human-Wildlife Interactions: Ecological and Financial Assessment of Elk Feedground Closure in Teton County
2. Author Information

A. Primary Contact Information
Name: Justine Lang; Role: Data Manager; Institution: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara; Email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

B. Alternate Contact Information
Name: Katherine Aristi; Role: Project Manager; Institution: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara; Email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])

Name: Delores Chan; Role: Communications Manager; Institution: Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, Santa Barbara; Email: [[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])...