Depiction of elk or wapiti by John James Audubon.
West Virginia is developing a plan to reintroduce elk.
From the Charleston Daily Mail:
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin drew applause over the weekend when he told a group of hunters and anglers it could be time to bring elk back to West Virginia.
The governor made the surprise announcement Saturday at a dinner hosted by Sportsmen for Tomblin, a political action committee.
The last native West Virginia elk was spotted 137 years ago. Early settlers over-hunted the animals and deforested the mountains where they lived.
Dave Arnold, the group’s treasurer, said Tomblin’s remarks drew “huge applause” from the 100 or so outdoors enthusiasts dining at the Days Hotel in Flatwoods.
A healthy elk herd could boost tourism from wildlife watchers and hunters alike, said Arnold, part owner of white water rafting resort Adventures on the Gorge. Non-hunters enjoy the large animals’ majesty and their distinct mating calls.
“Sometimes that makes a real big difference in how far people come for watch-able wildlife,” Arnold said. “And, once the population gets big enough – it’ll take years – there will be enough for hunting.”
The governor’s remarks Saturday were off-the-cuff, a spokeswoman said.
On Monday, the governor pointed to the successful reintroduction of elk in Kentucky and other states.
Already, some Kentucky elk are crossing the Tug Fork into West Virginia’s southern coalfields.
“Other states’ elk are migrating right now into West Virginia, and this is something we need to take a serious look into,” Tomblin said through spokeswoman Amy Shuler Goodwin.
Arnold said Tomblin, a Logan County native, wanted to bring the elk back to the coalfields via Kentucky.
The reintroduction program in Kentucky has been more successful than expected. Other states, including Wisconsin, are looking to Kentucky to help them restock.
“I think his words were like, ‘It’s time we start reintroducing the elk into West Virginia, and we’re going to bring them into the southern counties, and we’re going to use Kentucky primarily because they are disease-free,'” Arnold said.
The last free-roaming, native West Virginia elk were spotted on the headwaters of the Cheat River in 1873 and near Webster Springs in 1875, according to the state Division of Natural Resources.
Someone attempted to bring elk back to the state starting in Pocahontas County in 1913. The effort failed.
The state has studied the matter several times since then. In August 2010, the state DNR published a draft plan. The department, spurred in part by the migrations from Kentucky, said the state needs an “effective, science-based elk management plan.”
In 1972, the state concluded a plan didn’t make sense because elk wouldn’t have enough range, would damage crops, would compete with deer for food and would be susceptible to brain worms.
The 2005 study was apparently more optimistic. It found three areas for elk to return to in West Virginia: the coalfields, the west central part of the state and the Monongahela region of the eastern mountains.
In a survey, about 75 percent of coalfields residents were enthusiastic about getting elk back to the state.
“Most residents wanted to have elk for viewing, hunting, or for the aesthetic pleasure of knowing elk are in West Virginia after years of absence,” the DNR found.
But there were concerns about “human/elk conflicts,” among other things.
Some state residents worried about crop damage and vehicle collisions. West Virginia already leads the nation in deer collisions.
Hitting an elk could be a bit like hitting several deer at once. Elk bulls weigh about 700 pounds. Elk cows weigh about 500 pounds. Deer weigh about a fourth as much.
The DNR’s survey also found “that since communities in the southern coalfields region had limited infrastructure, they might not have the ability to benefit economically from elk-associated tourism.”
Some people are complaining about this.
Most of them are Republicans.
But their complaints are honestly for naught.
Elk are going to come into West Virginia, whether they are introduced or not.
They are already working their way from adjacent areas of Kentucky into what are called the “coalfields”– really the whole southwestern part of the state.
If West Virginia’s DNR would help augment introductions through natural migrations, then we could have a health population of these creatures, which, I must say, taste so much better than white-tailed deer.
One noted Republican conspiracy theorist believes elk reintroduction has something to do with banning hunting:
Gov. Earl Ray announced that he is for the importation of elk into West Virginia so they can be hunted. A group called “Sportsmen for Earl Ray” is on board and the “group’s” address is that of Charleston lawyer Phil Reale who is associated with the Big Eared One’s [President Obama’s] campaign and, of course, bans against private citizens having guns for any reason. In addition to the danger to the traveling public [just imagine hitting one of those things in a small car] there is the problem with disease that spreads to domestic livestock — but does the ruling oligarchy care.
Perhaps that’s why they are trying to use brucellosis- and chronic wasting disease- free animals from Kentucky.
And I don’t know why anyone would think introducing an animal for hunting purposes would lead to a ban on guns.
These two issues do not logically follow each other.
In fact, they would be logically mutually exclusive.
My guess is the WVDNR will work out a plan.
And in maybe 10 or 15 years after reintroduction, we’ll have an elk season.
You won’t have to go to Wyoming to get one.
This species of deer was the dominant ungulate in the state at the time of settlement.
The main river that runs through the central part of the state is called the Elk River.
And I don’t think it got that name for no reason.
I bet there were large herds of elk grazing along its banks, and it was just an obvious name to give the river.
Maybe the elk will graze along its banks once again.
Maybe– but only if the conspiracy theorists don’t scuttle the deal.
i do hope they use stock *tested* CWD-free –
not assume they’re CWD-free, cuz of their source.
CWD is now in 14 states of the 48 – & counting.
it’s made it east of the Mississippi – NY will inevitably
infect PA, at which point it will travel down the spine
of the Appalachians & eventually reach Florida, the
Everglades, & the key-deer –
which don’t need any more Bad Things to kill them.
i hope the eejit who turned prion-infected whitetails
loose after his research was finished, is in a very hot
place in the afterlife – for eternity, which is a long time.
Stabling wild-whitetail NEXT TO scrapie-infected sheep,
KNOWN scrapie-infected sheep, was criminally
irresponsible, IMO.
CWD is now endemic in all the areas where deer / elk
have been infected; the prions bind to clay-particles
in the soil & are absorbed by plants, then ingested by
grazers & browsers. It’s forever – it’s not ‘removable’.
CWD is already in a population of white-tails in the Potomac Highlands region.
dunno why your local Republicans are anti elk. There are Roosevelt Elk Hunts and Tule Elk Hunts in CA. Don’t you folk have free range cattle? It is just as bad to hit a steer on the road as it is to hit a deer (accidents caused by cattle occur pretty regularly up in the Weldon area of CA among other places). For that matter, hitting a deer (mule deer mostly) happens in even fairly urban areas in CA (LA county).
What happens to deer when elk come in as competition? (No agenda behind the question other than curiosity . . . . when I did ecology they never covered competition between herbivores in an environment where top predators are removed . . . and hunting is being used to try and keep population numbers in check).
According to the draft plan, they really don’t compete that much.
I wouldn’t think that the presence of Elk would cause a significant drop in Whitetail numbers, but I suppose its possible. Whitetails are browsers, they don’t do grass (although they do like the broad-leaved weeds and other forbs that grow in a non-Chem-lawn yard.). Elk do both–though grazing seems to be preferred. (Which Is why, I suspect, their meat tastes and looks more like beef than venison.)
I can answer the question about what happens when deer and elk compete for resources: they don’t. Elk were re-introduced here in Pike County, KY in the late1990s, amid furious controversy (we are the easternmost county in Kentucky, sharing borders with West Virginia and Virginia). From a few hundred released into about three counties, there are now more than 10.000 elk in Eastern Kentucky. The initial stock was CWD-free, and so far, neither deer nor elk in Kentucky have been found with CWD. The elk re-introduction has been a major success. There have been surprisingly few vehicle/elk accidents (although you see HBC whitetails beside the highway nearly every day). (They did have to build a special fence at our teeny airport, because elk kept wandering onto the runway.) And we still have more deer here than ever before.
Interesting. Sounds like some hunters are going to have to buy bigger freezers! They sound like magnificant animals.
How about damage to gardens and orchards? Are elk able to bull their way through deer fencing?
Yes, but so are deer when they’re hungry or determined enough. Check out:
Showdown In Elk Town – Human Planet, Cities, Preview – BBC One on
youtube. Its a riot!
A a rule, the elk stay back in the more dense woods, and visit secluded meadows to graze. I have been fortunate enough to see one bull elk who frequently browses & grazes along the edge of a large meadow near rural highway along my morning commute (when I ever get back to work, that is). For the past couple of autumns I’ve seen him there (but never when I had a camera with me). They look so beautiful.
Based just on that film, its obvious that the ones in CO don’t. Different behavior–perhaps a different sub-species?