At the end of this month, the National Park Service will host a series of public meetings on plans to reduce and manage the elk herd in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Back in the 1980s, fewer than 50 elk were transplanted from South Dakota to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Today, the number exceeds 1,000, about three times the targeted population.

Meetings will be held in various locations from Monday to Feb. 28: Dickinson, Grand Dakota Lodge, Monday, 5 to 8:30 p.m. MST; Fargo, Holiday Inn, Tuesday, 5 to 8:30 p.m.; Grand Forks, Canad Inn, Wednesday, 5 to 8:30 p.m.; Minot, International Inn, Feb. 26, 5 to 8:30 p.m.; Mandan, Seven Seas Best Western, Feb. 27, 5 to 8:30 p.m.; and Medora, Medora Community Center, Feb. 28, 2 to 5:30 p.m. MST.

With issues like chronic wasting disease, the park service has not been able to ship excess animals to other states.

So, the herd gets larger, more and more animals spill out to the periphery and a few more hunters get to hunt elk here rather than in Montana or Colorado or elsewhere.

More than a few, actually.

According to the Game and Fish Department, in the past two years the number of elk tags has increased from about 200 to almost 500.

Among the National Park Service's plans to thin the herd includes hiring, I assume, contractors to shoot the animals.

It is estimated that thinning the herd to its target population will take five years, with the meat from the 250 or so animals each year donated.

Another alternative would be to herd the animals outside of park boundaries into open hunting units.

Apparently the big hang-up with shooting elk inside park boundaries is that if the meat were kept by the shooters, that would constitute hunting, which is not allowed on park service land under federal law.

It seems that in cases such as these, there should be some way in which to reach a compromise.

We've seen the same old song and dance going on when it comes to management of the Missouri River since 1944.

Rivers change, elk - doing what elk will do - expand their ranges.

In the case of the river, uses have changed, while the way in which its priorities are handled has not.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., has indicated that if new legislation is what is needed to allow hunting on park service land, he would support it.

It seems that it would be a lot easier to let a couple hundred North Dakota hunters harvest elk than hire the job done.

In the Bismarck-Mandan area, the meeting is on a Friday night, and that's not a good time for a lot of people, going into a weekend.

In the case of the river, the wheels of the federal government turn very slowly, and that probably will be the case in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Still, if you're interested in elk hunting, it will be an interesting meeting.

I'm guessing there would be more than enough people out there willing to help out.

Easier and less expensive.

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring 250-8254 or brian.gehring@;bismarcktribune.com.)