The folks at the state Fish and Wildlife Department are facing a mountain of a problem at Mount St. Helens — elk overpopulation.

In 1980, when Mount St. Helens erupted, trees on 230 square miles of land toppled over, resulting in conditions that make an ideal habitat for the resident elk herd. Today, the elk population has ballooned to about 12,500 strong.

Tourists love the elk, coming to the mountain to view the animals in their natural habitats, but the expanding herd has caused problems for golf courses and residential backyards as it comes traipsing through areas in Clallam and Kittitas counties. The state has already paid out $888,000 over the past five years to property owners for elk-related damage.

As a result, the state game officials have crafted a new plan that would be almost pitiable in its desperation, if it wasn't so cruel — this winter, the state will spend $820,000 on alfalfa to feed the elk herd and then "unleash an aggressive hunt to thin the herd by 2,500 within five to eight years," according to a Seattle Times article. The justification is that the increased hunting could add up to $30 million to the local economy during hunting season.

In other words, feed wild animals so they become almost tame and dependant upon humans, cross your fingers that the ever-more-numerous elk herd won't expand beyond its borders during the next five to eight years allotted to damage more property and then take advantage of the animals' newly tamed status to easily kill them.

The problem with this situation is that wildlife officials are being pulled in two different directions — the public has either commoditized animals into an economic resource or personified the elk into cuddly creatures much like house pets. No one is remembering that animals are simply members of a natural ecosystem — no more and no less.

What's ironic is that nature's solution to overpopulation is being ignored at a wilderness area, which is meant to preserve a habitat with minimal human interference.

When an animal community becomes overpopulated in nature, the young or weak start dying out and the birth rate decreases. A population will only increase to the point at which the food source can maintain equilibrium. Feed the already burgeoning population, and the animals will increase in number and overflow their territorial boundaries.

Nature's solution is to let the herd balance its own habitat over the winter. Scientists estimate that up to 15 percent of the elk would starve, freeze to death or be killed by predators with this option. While this may seem harsh, it is indeed the kindest solution and the one most in harmony with the elk's natural environment.