Every effort should be taken to help elk project succeed
The experimental elk reintroduction into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park should be given every chance to succeed. If that means an additional release of more elk, then park biologists and state wildlife officials need to work cooperatively to help that happen.
The two herds of elk that have been released into the Cataloochee Valley area of the park — 25 from Kentucky in 2001 and 27 from Elk Island in Canada in 2002— are not increasing in numbers. At this time, researchers estimate that the herd in the national park is 53 strong. That includes 50 adults and three calves.
Several factors are contributing to the herd’s inability to increase, and some of those are a concern for researchers who were hoping the elk population would take off quickly. One is the predatory skills of the black bears, which have found elk calves to be relatively easy pickings. The highly adaptable bears have always scoured Cataloochee Valley for strawberries, which unfortunately for the elk ripen during the calving season. It is thought that coyotes may also be preying on the young elk.
“We have a very healthy and efficient population of predators, extremely efficient,” said Park biologist Kim Delozier.
Another of the herd’s problems has simply been a run of bad genetic luck. Seventy-five percent of the newborn elk in the park have been male, thereby reducing the number of females maturing into potential mothers.
A parasitic worm also was responsible for the death of as many as five of the Park’s elk. That percentage is higher than expected, though at least one park biologist says he thought the parasite might prove more dangerous than originally predicted.
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Researchers may not have much control over predators and elk birthing ratios, but they can control whether new elk are introduced into the herd. Park biologists had originally planned on a third elk release, but delayed it early in the process when it appeared the herd was growing. Now, they think a third release may be necessary.
The problem is that the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, fearing the introduction of chronic wasting disease into its whitetail deer population, has banned the importation of deer or elk into the state. The disease turned up this summer in deer in West Virginia, the closest it has been detected to North Carolina. This has raised concern among state wildlife officials. Park biologists, however, believe that their sources for elk are free from the disease. Both preserves that supplied the first two groups of elk are in penned enclosures and no cases of chronic wasting disease have been detected in the herds.
The elk have provided a boon to communities on the eastern side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In fact, visitation numbers have increased so dramatically in Cataloochee Valley that some are concerned about whether this isolated section of the park can continue handling the heavy traffic.
But this kind of attraction is what the North Carolina side of the park wants, one that focuses on heritage and nature rather than glitz. If elk can be imported with a high degree of certainty that they won’t introduce chronic wasting disease, then park biologists and state wildlife officials need to work together to make this project succeed. It is good for the park and good for the surrounding communities, and it helps the park serve its mission to preserve and protect our wildlife and wilderness.
