Multiple local projects are funded for elk studies

Press release from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and its partners contributed $508,392 in funding for 13 wildlife habitat enhancement, research and hunting heritage projects in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. RMEF directly granted $191,102 in funding that leveraged an additional $317,290 in partner dollars.

“To help elk populations continue to strengthen and grow across their historic range across the eastern portion of the United States, it’s vital to enhance habitat and gather all the elk-related scientific knowledge that we can,” said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer. “This grant funding targets exactly that.”

There are 35 RMEF chapters and more than 14,100 members across the five-state region.

“We salute our volunteers who raised this funding so it could be put back on the ground in their individual states,” said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO. “Without them, we simply could not carry out our mission of ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and hunting heritage.”

Dating back to 1990, RMEF and its partners completed 550 conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia with a combined value of more than $27.6 million. These projects protected or enhanced 122,689 acres of habitat and opened or improved public access to 108,296 acres.

Below is a partial list highlighting WNC’s 2020 projects:

  • North Carolina – Haywood County
    Provide funding for a multi-agency project examining elk movement and mortality associated with vehicle collisions in the Great Smoky Mountains. Researchers capture and outfit elk with GPS radio collars to assist with overall elk management.
    Provide funding to study elk habitat use and to bolster population estimates in various locations. The findings will aid managers to identify where and how best to focus efforts to improve and protect elk habitat.
  • North Carolina – Haywood, Jackson, and Swain Counties
    Provide funding to monitor elk movement across the Blue Ride Parkway, which bisects the Cherokee Qualla boundary, by developing automated camera trapping devices on each side of the highway onto tribal lands.
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