The State Game and Fish Department opposes the entire plan to reduce the elk population at Theodore Roosevelt National Park near Medora because none of it allows qualified North Dakotans to kill the elk and keep a share of the elk meat.

The park released a draft Environmental Impact Statement with alternatives for a 15-year elk management plan in December and is taking comments through March 19.

The park has nearly five times too many the ideal number of elk and will use one or more of four lethal means to reduce the population. A final decision to pick one or combine the alternatives should come later this year. The killing will start in 2010.

Game and Fish released its comments Thursday saying it, along with Gov. John Hoeven, will continue to push for an alternative that lets qualified North Dakota hunters in on the process and keep at least some of the meat.

The public can get informed at a series of daily meetings that begin Monday in Dickinson and end the following Saturday in Medora.

Park superintendent Valerie Naylor has said the Game and Fish proposal to let qualified hunters check in and out of the park, kill elk and keep the meat is public hunting, which is not allowed in a national park.

The park will spend between $1 million and $2.2 million to reduce the elk from the 1,000 there by 2010 down to about 100 to 200 over a five-year period.

It has so many elk because of a 2001 moratorium against transporting them to prevent the spread of chronic wasting disease, which never has been detected among the state's big game species.

The park is looking at four means of reducing the elk population, ranging from sharpshooting inside the park to pushing them outside the park for public shooting.

Game and Fish director Terry Steinwand said the park's alternatives are too expensive, too complex and unsustainable over the long haul.

"We believe the EIS should be amended to allow for the Game and Fish alternative. If necessary, we support congressional action to change the law or agency policy so our alternative can be included,"Steinwand said.

Hoeven has twice lobbied the Department of Interior on behalf of the Game and Fish alternative. The North Dakota House and Senate also recently passed resolutions of support for it.

Here is a brief synopsis of the park's alternatives:

n Direct reduction with firearms (cost $1.7 million). Under this plan, federal employees, or their agents, teamed with a skilled volunteer would hunt either on foot or horseback, using non-lead bullets. The animal carcass would be taken to a refrigerated location, held there while chronic wasting disease testing is done and then donated.

In this plan, about 270 elk would be killed each year for five years for a total of 1,360 to account for births.

Once the elk population reaches 200 animals, the herd would be left for another three to four years when the population would double and more reduction would be implemented.

n Roundup and euthanasia (cost $1.8 million). The herd would be forced by helicopter to the park's animal handling facilities, where animals would be loaded out to a commercial processor, killed and the meat distributed. The killing and processing would be done by the park service or its agents if no commercial processor is indentified.

In this plan, some 800 elk would be removed in about 22 days.

n CWD testing and translocation (cost $1.1 million). In this alternative, 370 elk would be killed and tested for chronic wasting disease, in order to reach a statistical probability that the entire herd is disease-free. If tests are negative, elk could be transferred to other locations if recipients can be found, until the ideal number of 200 remaining elk is reached.

n Hunting outside the park (cost $2.1 million). The park proposes to work with North Dakota Game and Fish and local landowners to locate elk outside the park, by helicopter - which accounts for half the cost - or by manipulating fences, for public hunting. The plan proposes to release about 270 animals a year that way, more if possible.

Next week's informational meetings will all be held from 5 to 8:30 p.m., with presentations at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at:

Monday - Dickinson, Grand Dakota Lodge and Convention Center.

Tuesday - Fargo, Holiday Inn.

Wednesday - Grand Forks, Canad Inn.

Thursday - Minot, International Inn.

Friday - Mandan, Best Western Seven Seas Inn and Convention Center.

A final meeting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Medora Community Center.