 Jackson Hole, Wyoming is the home of the National Elk Refuge. Established as a result of local concerns, the first hay was fed to elk in about 1912. In the years since, the refuge has expanded to about 24,700 acres and is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The initial concern which contributed to the beginning of the refuge was the fact that conflicts between the inhabitants of the expanding town of Jackson and the wintering elk. The town was expanding to occupy lands wintering elk had previously used as winter range. In their search for winter forage, the issue was complicated by competition for forage grown and stored for wintering the valley's livestock. The wearing population of the entire Jackson Hole herd has been suggested to have been as large as 25,000 animals and featured die-offs of up to 10,000 elk in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Currently, the population objective on the refuge is 7,500 elk. A bit over half of the Jackson Hole elk herd. Today, the elk's diet is supplemented with 7 or 8 pounds of pelleted forage during a 2-3 month period when snow is too deep and crusted for elk to efficiently harvest natural forage. Elk come to the refuge from as far away as Southern Yellowstone Park and winter visitors to the Jackson area often take advantage of the opportunity to view the herds. I'm Eric Peterson from the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service Exploring the nature of Wyoming.