Kentucky launched an ambitious program in 1997 to bring back elk to a region where the animals had vanished more than a century earlier. Between 1997 and 2002, wildlife officials relocated and released 1,541 elk in the southeastern part of the state.
The project's goal was to reach a population of 10,000 elk. Almost 30 years later, the herd has surpassed 13,000 animals, according to the report.
The elk found favorable conditions across a reintroduction zone spanning roughly 17,000 square kilometers, an area made up of forests, farmland and former coal mines that had been rehabilitated after mining ended.
Elk Return to a Region Where They Had Vanished
The reintroduction reversed a disappearance that stretched back more than a hundred years. The last eastern elk was shot dead in Pennsylvania on September 1, 1877, and hunting combined with habitat loss wiped out the species from the Appalachian region for over a century.
To reverse that loss, Kentucky captured 1,541 elk from six western U.S. states: Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. The animals were transported and released across 16 counties in southeastern Kentucky, where they founded a population that would go on to grow far beyond what planners expected.
Former Coal Mines Became Ideal Habitat
One of the keys to the herd's growth lies in the region's former surface coal mines. After mining ended, the land was rehabilitated and covered with grasses, creating wide open areas that supplied food for the elk, while nearby forests offered shelter and served as breeding grounds.
Mild winters and a scarcity of large predators, such as bears and wolves, added to the favorable conditions. Although the former mines make up only about 10 percent of the reintroduction zone, they played an important role in the expansion of a herd that is now considered the largest wild elk population east of the Rocky Mountains.
