Title 16 › Chapter 6— GAME AND BIRD PRESERVES; PROTECTION › § 673c
Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and the National Park Service must work together to make a plan, based on field studies, to protect elk in Grand Teton National Park. They must send that plan to the Secretary of the Interior and the Governor of Wyoming for joint approval. The plan can include a controlled reduction of elk carried out by hunters who are licensed by Wyoming and formally deputized by the Secretary when needed for proper management. Every year, at least once between February 1 and April 1, the two agencies must submit their joint recommendations for that year. Once the Secretary and the Governor approve the plan, each agency must immediately issue the orders needed in its own area. The orders may allow qualified, experienced Wyoming-licensed hunters, deputized as rangers, to help reduce elk numbers (one elk per deputized ranger). The Secretary’s reduction authority applies only to park lands east of the Snake River and certain lands west of Jackson Lake and the Snake River north of the park’s present north boundary, and not to the Jackson Hole Wildlife Park. If a plan calls for deputized hunters, the Commission must send a list of qualified license holders to the Secretary by July 1, and the Secretary must, at no charge, deputize the number named in the plan. Each deputized hunter may remove the carcass of the elk he kills under the plan.
Full Legal Text
Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
16 U.S.C. § 673c
Title 16 — Conservation
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60