Officials seek extension of park elk reintroduction program

“We’d like to extend the life of the study so we can so we can study more animals in the 1- to 2- year-old age class,” park biologist Kim DeLozier said. “That information would give us more confidence about the future of this herd, whether it can sustain itself or go downhill over time.”

Park officials want to continue studying the elk and release 25 to 30 more animals this winter or next.

Elk were once common in the Smokies and the rest of the Southern Appalachians but were eradicated by the early 19th century as a result of habitat loss and unregulated hunting.

Kentucky has reintroduced elk to the eastern part of the state, and Tennessee is trying to do the same by releasing elk in the abandoned coalfields of the Cumberland Mountains.

The park launched the project in 2001 by releasing 25 elk in Cataloochee Valley, on the North Carolina side of the park, followed by a second reintroduction of 27 elk in 2002.

There are currently about 50 elk, a number which has less than a 20 percent chance of being a population that is sustainable over the longterm.

The first batch of elk came from a captive herd at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area along the Kentucky border, while the second group came from Elk Island National Park, in Alberta, Canada.

The Cataloochee Valley elk are suffering from a poor ratio of males to females, disease and predators killing calves, project officials said.

Elk herds are naturally mostly female, while the elk in the Cataloochee Valley area are close to a 50-50 gender split. On top of that, only one female calf has been born from those animals in the past two years.

“We’ve had extremely bad luck with the number of calves born, females versus males,” DeLozier said.

Parasites, primarily brain worms, have killed some of the elk.

And a symbol of the Smokies, black bears, have killed and eaten a number of calves.

In the Cataloochee Valley, wild strawberries ripen at the same time the elk give birth. Bears who come for the strawberries have also learned to prey on the calves. Bears killed four of nine known calves born this year.

“Before this year, we would have said coyotes were the main predator of elk calves, but now we’re thinking that may no longer be the case,” DeLozier said.

Jennifer Dobey, a University of Tennessee graduate student, who has monitored and studies the animals said a larger population is needed to determine if elk can survive in the area.

“The data tells us now that the elk are doing OK — not great and not terrible,” Dobey said. “They’re teetering on the edge, and at this point, we can’t tell if they’re teetering on the edge because they can’t make it here or because we didn’t bring enough animals to create a founding population.”

North Carolina officials have banned imports of deer and elk, citing concerns of spreading brain wasting disease.

An extension of the program would require approval from those North Carolina officials and the director of the National Park Service.

Park officials are preparing a disease risk assessment report, focusing primarily on brain wasting disease.