Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 18, 1992 TAG: 9202180009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CONSERVATION GROUP FOCUSES ON PROTECTION OF ELK
Just over a year ago, when Mike Roberts began thinking about forming a local chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, he pictured it creating a modest circle of interest.He thought about naming it the Peaks of Otter Chapter, because he lived near that Bedford County landmark, and because one of the last herds of wild elk in Virginia grazed in the foothills of the twin peaks, Sharp Top and Flat Top.
But interest swelled from such a wide area, he decided the name should be the Blue Ridge Chapter, to encompass geography that included Central Virginia, Southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.
While the last wild elk herds disappeared from Virginia about 30 years ago, Roberts was discovering that these majestic animals continue to embrace the spirit of wilderness and wildness in the heart of a surprising number of outdoorsmen in Virginia.
When the chapter holds its first banquet, Feb. 29, 10 months after its founding, 300 people are expected to attend.
"The whole idea behind it, so many of us go out and enjoy that country, we feel like we should give something back because we are visitors there," said Roberts.
That country is the Rocky Mountain elk range, and giving back to it is providing funds to purchase critical winter range, where the winds blow snow off the grass-covered hills and elk can find food. That's what the Roanoke banquet, and hundreds like it across the country, is designed to accomplish.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is fairly new, as far as conservation groups go. Organized 1984 in Troy, Montana, when a couple of its founders took second mortgage loans on their homes, it now has more than 80,000 members, many living in the East. It has funded some 400 wildlife conservation projects in North America.
The organization is patterned after highly successful Ducks Unlimited, which is more than 50 years old. While DU's goal is to provide wetlands for waterfowl, the major task of the elk foundation is to secure winter range for herds that migrate into valleys over ancient routes.
Often those valleys are increasingly developed or farmed or over-crowded with elk. That was an acute problem the winter of 1988-89, following fires in Yellowstone National Park that disrupted vast holdings of elk wintering grounds, sending thousands of the big animals into the rangeland of concerned ranchers.
The youthful elk foundation proved its worth by acquiring more than 7,000 acres of private winter range and turning it over to federal and state agencies for elk management purposes.
Roberts was in Yellowstone last September, taking pictures where elk grace the lenses of thousands of cameras, when he spotted a familiar figure. It was Leonard Lee Rue III, the world's most published wildlife photographer.
"I ran into him out in a meadow," Roberts said. When Roberts invited Rue to present a program in February at the budding Blue Ridge chapter banquet, Rue graciously accepted, "confirming it with a handshake."
The foundation expects to reap $3 million from its banquet circuit this year, said Ron White, the southeastern field director. More than 60 of the banquets will be east of the Mississippi.
The Feb. 29 Roanoke banquet/auction is set for Tanglewood Holiday Inn. Rue's program, titled "High Country" begins 4:30 p.m. A social hour starts at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m.
Tickets, which must be purchased in advance, include membership in the foundation. They are available at Trebark Outfitters, Orvis, Capital Guns, On Target and Parkway Guns - $40 for singles; $60 for couples. Additional information is available at 703-774-4400.