Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 20, 1995 TAG: 9502210043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A four-year study conducted by Long, a graduate wildlife researcher at the University of Tennessee, shows that the reintroduction of elk in the 520,000-acre park is feasible. Tennessee hasn't seen a wild elk since the last of the indigenous Eastern elk was killed in the early 1800s.
While Long is optimistic about the reintroduction, the decision about whether to give the idea a try will be up to national park officials.
"I see no problems with the habitat," said Long. "I don't see a poaching problem or a parasite problem. Given the 20-mile width and 50-mile length of the park, there is sufficient area there that we shouldn't have problems with migrations or movements."
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation contributed $30,000 to the study. The money came from fund-raising banquets, like the sold-out affair that will be sponsored in Roanoke on Saturday by the organization's 300-plus member Blue Ridge Chapter.
If elk do well in the Smokies, Long sees little reason why the species can't be returned to what he calls "its rightful niche" in the Appalachian ecosystem. That includes Virginia.
"I would like to talk to the people in Virginia, the forest service up there," he said.
The research conducted by Long examined Virginia's efforts to translocate about 150 elk from Yellowstone National Park in 1917. The population grew to the point that by 1922 a hunting season was established. Elk were hunted until the late '50s. By the mid-'70s the animals had pretty well disappeared.
"They probably were introduced into areas where there should not have been introductions - agricultural areas," Long said. Crop damage was a problem.
"Finally, with agricultural problems, they [state officials] more or less turned their backs on the elk and just let poachers take them out."
Very little agriculture abuts the Great Smoky Mountains National park, Long said. The park bumps against national forest on three sides, which increases the contiguous expanse of potential elk habitat and raises the possibility of hunting opportunities should the stocking do well.
"Thus far, I have yet to get the first negative reaction to elk reintroduction," Long said. "It is amazing to me. Everybody from preservationists to hunters - everybody - is for the same thing."
With approval from the park service, the next phase of the study would be to release an experimental number of elk, say 10 to 15, that are equipped with radio collars so they can be tracked, Long said.
"If that looks good, we would consider a full-blown release."
Long would like to see at least 150 elk stocked, with the idea of establishing a herd of about 500 animals.
"The most negative thing I found in the study is the lack of herbaceous openings in the park," he said.
Elk need grasses in the fall and early spring, he said. Only about 3 percent of the park is open land.
"That would reduce the park's carrying capacity, but I think the park would support 500 elk as is," he said.
The most likely source of elk for the reintroduction is Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota where 200 elk are removed annually for herd control, Long said.
by CNB