DICKINSON - Unlike the two people who show up when the National Park Service talks about weed control, nearly 50 turned out Monday in Dickinson to talk about elk control.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park has too many elk and it's likely some will have to be killed.

There are about 600 elk in the park's South Unit - about twice as many as the 46,000 acres can optimally sustain - and that number will double in the next three to four years.

Because of chronic wasting disease, the agency cannot round up excess animals and transfer them to other places like it has two times since the elk were introduced in 1985. A roundup was planned for 2003, but was canceled under the chronic wasting disease moratorium, although no park elk, or any game animal in the state, has tested positive for the disease.

Monday's meeting was the first of five around the state over the week to hear what the public thinks should be done.

People who came to Monday's meeting were primarily men - a mix of landowners, sportsmen and a few others.

Because the situation involves so many animals and opinions, and will affect the park's elk management for the long haul, some game officials have called it the most important wildlife management issue they'll ever face.

The issue draws a lot of interest because people care about the animals and about their land. Elk, besides being majestic and too populous through no fault of their own, also are notoriously hard on fences and planted crops.

Ike Hecker, of Fairfield, said he hopes the issue doesn't come between landowners and sportsmen.

He thinks the park should either let people hunt elk inside the park, or ship them to a processing facility and distribute the meat.

The last thing he wants is for the elk to be turned out of the park onto neighboring land.

Dean Rummel, of Dickinson, is a sportsman and said the park should have a lottery and let people like himself shoot the elk.

He said a hunt anywhere but inside the park would be a problem, but he's intrigued by what the agencies, including the State Game and Fish Department, could make work.

Darcy Kamlich, of Grassy Butte, said elk hunting inside the park boundaries is the worst solution he can imagine.

He said lobbing lead at the elk would surely drive them from the park, more than they already leave on their own.

Kamlich said a roundup and commercial meat slaughter to give away the meat is a better alternative.

He said elk don't belong "here" anyway and their time in western North Dakota has come and gone.

"We'd be better off if we paid more attention to animals that can survive out here, like mule deer, whose numbers have gone down" he said.

Mule deer numbers are rebounding after taking a big hit in the winter of 1996-97, said Randy Kreil, wildlife chief for the Game and Fish Department, a cooperating agency in the elk issue.

Kreil said he thought Monday's attendance was incredible, especially for its diversity, which included foreign agriculture students from Dickinson State University.

Ray Clouse, of Golva, is president of the Association of National Grasslands. The land outside the park is a mix of National Grasslands and privately owned.

Clouse said hunting elk inside the park isn't going to fly with the public.

Congress would have to approve an exemption for hunting in a national park, which is otherwise prohibited.

Clouse said the park can't just release the elk, either. "They (park) can't turn them loose on the world," Clouse said.

He predicts a lot of players will be involved before any plan shakes out.

The park has to write an Environmental Impact Statement, which it plans to release in final form by 2006.

It wants the public to help come up with alternatives that are both distinct and practical.

After 5 p.m. meetings at the International Inn in Minot tonight, the Ramkota in Bismarck Thursday and the Medora Community Center Monday, the park will continue to take written comment through Dec. 31.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)