Long-closed lands on the Hanford Reach National Monument could be opened for a public hunt next fall if the public approves a draft elk control plan being released today.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its controversial plan, and agency officials expect vocal tribal members, farmers, hunters and environmentalists to weigh in.

The herd that uses the Reach as a winter and spring range has grown to almost 800 animals. The plan calls for the herd to be reduced to about 350 animals.

Under the proposal, about 165 animals would be shot the first year. About 10 hunters at a time would be allowed on the land from September through March during designated 10-day hunting periods. The hunts would be reduced when the herds are brought under control.

Hunters on private farmlands surrounding the Reach have killed some animals, but the elk have no natural predators and the herd continues to grow each year. State officials have been paying thousands of dollars in crop damage claims.

Leo Bowman, Benton County commissioner and member of the Hanford Reach National Monument advisory committee, said creating a plan to manage the elk has been a long and complicated process.

"The public owns those animals and has to pay for the damage they cause," Bowman said. "Why shouldn't they be allowed to enjoy the hunt, the kill and the meat afterwards?"

The 62-page plan is open for public comment until Dec. 18.

Of the plan's three options, federal officials have recommended a tightly controlled public hunt on the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve Unit of the Reach, which has remained closed since the early 1940s. Other options include a plan to leave the elk alone, or to combine a controlled hunt with a trap and relocate program. According to the plan, it costs about $500 to relocate each animal.

About 42,000 acres of the 77,000-acre ALE would be open if hunting is approved, said Mike Ritter, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deputy project leader at the Reach.

Other options that were considered but rejected in the plan include: elk birth control, an open hunt on the Reach, exclusive government culling and a 30-mile elk fence.

The documents were written with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and already have been reviewed by the Department of Energy.

The plan isn't simple. First it needs to pass public and tribal scrutiny and then hunters would have to kill the elk, Ritter said.

And that isn't an easy task.

Last winter, Ritter and other wildlife officials culled a few animals for radioactivity testing.

"Three of our best hunters who know the ALE very well had a lot of difficulty getting those three animals," he said.

During that hunt, officials also learned about the dangers of hunting the animals.

The proposed hunting expeditions would be strictly controlled because of concerns about driving the animals into private land and crops, into central Hanford where radioactive cleanup efforts are under way, or over Highway 240, which borders the Reach.

Ritter said the agency also is concerned that hunts could damage Native American historical sites.

About 5 percent of the Reach has been surveyed for artifacts, he said. And the plan calls for hefty protections for those resources, Ritter said.

"There is stuff out there - if you mess with it, the hunt's done," he said.

Ritter and other officials plan to meet with Yakama tribal leaders today about the plan, cultural artifacts and possible native hunting.

Administering such a hunt would likely cost the federal agency about $62,000 a year. It will be a stretch for the staff, which is facing annual budget and staffing cuts, Ritter said.

The elk plan is independent from the federal agency's mammoth $3 million, 1,000-page plan to guide management of the Reach. The total management plan had been expected to be released this summer but now is expected to be made public in early spring or summer.