LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 Washington, D. C, November 1, 1911. 



Sir: I have the nonor to transmit herewith for publication as 

 Bulletin No. 40, a Report on the Condition of Elk in Jackson Hole, 

 Wyoming, in 1911, by Edward A. Preble, assistant in the Biological 

 Survey. At the last session of the sixty-first Congress an item was 

 incorporated in the appropriation for the Biological Survey "for the 

 feeding, protecting, and removal of elk in the country known as 

 Jackson's Hole and vicinity, in the State of Wyoming." Steps were 

 immediately taken to obtain the information necessary to enable 

 the Biological Survey to undertake intelligently and effectively the 

 solution of the elk problem in Wyoming. Mr. Preble was directed 

 to proceed to Jackson Hole, and Mr. D. C. Nowlin, formerly game war- 

 den of the State, was appointed as his assistant. They were in- 

 structed: (1) To make a thorough examination of existing conditions, 

 to ascertain approximately the number of elk which perished by 

 starvation, and to collect all available data respecting the life history 

 and local distribution of the animals; (2) to cooperate with the State 

 in feeding the elk and to arrange for obtaining a supply of feed for 

 the winter of 1911-12; (3) to investigate the feasibility of transferring 

 a few animals to other parts of the State or to game preserves in other 

 States where nucleus herds might be established under Federal or 

 State auspices. Upon arrival in Jackson Hole Messrs. Preble and 

 Nowlin found that the State had already purchased and was feeding 

 all the hay available and nothing further in this direction could be 

 done except to make arrangements for the following winter. On 

 account of the lateness of the season and the impassability of the 

 roads it was practicable to make only one experimental shipment of 

 elk, and 12 animals were successfully transported across Teton Pass. 

 Seven of these were shipped to the National Bison Range, in Montana, 

 and 5 to the Wichita National Game Refuge, in Oklahoma. All 

 of them arrived in good condition and are doing well. 



The Biological Survey has undertaken not merely temporary relief 

 during one or two severe winters, but an investigation, in cooperation 

 with the State of Wyoming, of the broader problem of the mainte- 

 nance of the elk herd of Jackson Hole as one of the important re- 

 sources of the State and as a permanent source of income. Such an 



3 



