Cody, Wyo — Wyoming cattle ranchers to the east of Yellowstone National Park are eligible for the new East Yellowstone Brucellosis Compensation Fund established by ranchers and conservation organizations looking to decrease the risk and cost of disease associated with elk migrations. The creative approach is designed to support cattle ranchers in Park County, Wyoming who provide critical winter habitat for migratory elk.
The new East Yellowstone Brucellosis Compensation Fund aims to address the financial challenges posed by brucellosis outbreaks, offering ranchers up to 60 percent coverage of quarantine-related expenses. With 10,000 elk migrating through private lands in Park County each winter, the fund provides a crucial safety net for local ranchers.
“This compensation fund represents a collaborative approach to conservation that recognizes the economic pressures faced by ranchers,” said PERC Director of Conservation Travis Brammer. “By providing financial protection, we’re demonstrating how conservation can support agricultural working lands and protect wildlife habitat.”
Reducing risk, increasing tolerance
Brucellosis is a potentially devastating disease that can transfer from elk and bison to cattle, causing cows to abort their young. An outbreak can be incredibly costly for a cattle operation with quarantining and compliance with other regulatory measures costing upwards of $100,000. The risk is particularly acute in the large, private lands east of Yellowstone National Park, which serve as both productive cattle ranches and winter habitat for the region’s migratory elk. When the snow flies, the Clark’s Fork and Cody elk herds migrate hundreds of miles to find winter range on private lands, occasionally bringing disease risk with them.
To lighten the financial burden of a potential outbreak and provide ranchers with the ability to hedge against disease risk, PERC’s aim for the East Yellowstone Brucellosis Compensation Fund is to increase wildlife tolerance and make it less risky for ranchers to provide habitat for species like elk.
How the fund works
- The fund will be capitalized at a minimum of $150,000
- In the event of an outbreak, qualified ranchers will receive a payout of up to 60 percent of their quarantine costs.
- Payments are made on a per head, per half-month basis according to the payment structure.
- Payouts are tied to the cost of hay and the average pasture lease rate.
- The maximum payout for any single quarantine event is 50 percent of the initial fund size.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the fund, ranchers must be based within Park County and take minimum precautions necessary to prevent brucellosis transmission. Ranchers who experience a brucellosis outbreak must comply with the Wyoming Livestock Board’s quarantine requirements in order to be eligible. No advance opt-in is required.
A collaboration between conservation partners and ranchers
PERC is a leader in innovative conservation solutions based on markets and incentives, having successfully launched a brucellosis compensation fund in the Paradise Valley of Montana in 2023. The East Yellowstone fund is similar in model but customized for Park County’s larger ranch sizes and cattle operations.
After learning about PERC’s Paradise Valley fund, the East Yellowstone Collaborative (EYC)—a group of conservation organizations including Western Landowners Alliance, The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Park County Open Lands, Beyond Yellowstone, Trout Unlimited and LegacyWorks Group—invited PERC to help explore the possibility of a similar model in Wyoming. Together with input from Park County ranchers, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the Wyoming Livestock Board, the new fund provides similar coverage while addressing the distinct needs of Wyoming’s cattle ranching community.
“The East Yellowstone Collaborative deeply values what these working lands provide for wildlife and for our community and want to support their success,” said Laura Bell, East Yellowstone Regional Director at LegacyWorks Group, and facilitator of the East Yellowstone Collaborative. “When we’ve reached out to landowners and managers to ask about their biggest challenges, a brucellosis quarantine ranked up in the top three. This collaboration between PERC, EYC, and the working group of Park County producers goes a long way to help address those concerns.”
In addition to PERC, the project is supported by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and TE Ranch.
