Elk to be Reintegrated into West Virginia Wildlife

Elk will be introduced into West Virginia before the start of the new year.
Photo Courtesy of wideopenspaces.com

You may not know it, but West Virginia is bringing in elk. What does that mean for our state? According to conservationfund.org, elk will be stocked in West Virginia by the end of 2016. 

    According to State wildlife officials, they have reached an agreement with officials at Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes Elk and Bison Prairie to bring as many as 27 elk to the Mountain State by mid-December.

    Paul Johansen, wildlife chief for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, said agency workers will travel to Kentucky in mid-November to trap the animals, verify that they are disease-free and later transport them to the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in Logan County.

    “This is one of the greatest conservation opportunities West Virginia has experienced in many, many years,” Johansen said. “This is one of the largest conservation efforts I’ve seen in my 30-plus-year career working with this agency. This is wildlife restoration at its best, and we’re very proud of it.”

    According to wvgazettemail.com, “Elk were once found all across West Virginia, but market hunting and habitat loss caused their numbers to rapidly decline. The state’s last elk was killed in Webster County, on the headwaters of the Elk River, in 1875. They’ve been gone from the landscape ever since.”

    They continue that once the elk arrive at their new home, they will be kept in a 3-acre pen to allow them to adjust to their surroundings. Randy Kelley, the DNR’s elk project leader, said the animals’ stay in the pen could be as short as four days or as long as two weeks. After the acclimation period, the elk will be released to roam the hills and hollows of Southwestern West Virginia.

    Johansen said the actual number of animals will depend on how many of the 700-pound animals can be trapped. “If I were to bet, I’d say this first stocking will have about 20 animals, distributed pretty evenly between males and females, and in a range of age-classes,” he said.

    DNR agency officials plan to put them on state-leased or state-owned lands in Wyoming or McDowell counties. Biologists expect them to eventually occupy most of the state’s Elk Management Area, which includes all of Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties, as well as parts of Boone, Lincoln and Wayne. The DNR’s ultimate goal is to establish a population large enough to allow for hunting. Current plans call for a total of 150 elk to be released by 2019 at two sites.

    Once captured, the elk will be held in Kentucky while they’re tested for brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis. If they’re declared disease-free, they should be on their way to West Virginia by the week of Dec. 12. The DNR is paying the U.S. Forest Service $30,000 for the animals.

    Getting elk stocked by the end of 2016 would allow Governor Earl Ray Tomblin to keep his campaign promise. During his 2012 gubernatorial campaign, Tomblin vowed to see to it that elk were stocked in Southern West Virginia by the end of his term. He almost did not make it.

    West Virginia officials expect the animals to thrive in state’s Southwestern counties, which have similar habitat to Eastern Kentucky. In addition to the revenue generated from sales of hunting licenses, Kentucky’s elk have brought in millions of dollars from wildlife-watching tourists. 

    Johansen expects the same to happen in the Mountain State. “There will be benefits for our citizens, hunters and non-hunters alike,” he said. “Restoring elk to Southern West Virginia will bring economic benefits to the surrounding communities. It’s a very positive project that local citizens have already embraced."