I believe that all elk in the eastern U.S. were originally the now extinct woodland or eastern elk subspecies. All elk present in the eastern Great Plains and east of the Mississippi River were reintroduced with the Rocky Mountain Elk subspecies from the western states.
The only continuously existing bison herd in the U.S. is at Yellowstone N.P. There is one other one in Canada. Others were removed from the wild in the late 1800's for reintroduction efforts. Paul J. ----- Original Message ----- From: Edward Frank To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:19 PM Subject: [ENTS] Elk Herds ENTS, There are free ranging elk in Pennsylvania. Historically they were present, but exterminated in the 1800's. They were re-introduced in 1913 by the PA Game Commission. In 1913, the Game Commission began reintroducing elk. Elk from Yellowstone National Park, South Dakota, and a private preserve in Pennsylvania were released here until 1926. During those 13 years, 177 elk were released into the wilds of the central and northeastern parts of the state, but only in the northcentral did the population take hold. In 1923 a hunting season was established, but the season was closed in 1932 due to dwindling numbers of elk. From 1923 until 1932, hunters took 98 bulls, and another 78 elk were killed illegally or for crop damage. The elk roaming the mountains of northcentral Pennsylvania today are the progeny of the animals that remained. By autumn of 2007 Pennsylvania was home to more than 700 elk - the largest herd in the Northeast United States. Today, the elk population may be even more widespread than it was in the mid-1800s. Elk can be found in parts of Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton and Potter counties, inhabiting more than 700 square miles. You can see them almost every night at certain viewing areas in Elk County such as the Wilson Hill Viewing area. http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/lib/pgc/deer/2008final_elkbrochure.pdf Ed Frank Join the Primal Forests - Ancient Trees Community at: http://primalforests.ning.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: JamesRobertSmith To: ENTSTrees Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 2:39 PM Subject: [ENTS] Re: Lone Elk State Park-Section 4 (Antire Hills) of Henry Shaw Ozark Corridor There are wild ranging elk in Arkansas. Probably in Missouri, too, but I'm not sure. The nearest place to this part of the country where there are wild ranging bison would be Oklahoma, I think. There are bison in Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, but I don't know if they're free roaming. The elk in the Smokies are free roaming, but all save the smallest newborn are collared. I've never seen an adult Smoky Mountain elk that wasn't sporting a radio collar. One reason I'll go back to Cataloochee is to see the elk (and try not to think of all the grand old hemlocks). Ed: Yeah, I'll have to try the metacrawler! Thanks for the rec. On Dec 14, 2:05 pm, James Parton <[email protected]> wrote: > Beth, > > Here in WNC we have two places with elk. Cataloochee Valley & > Cherokee. To the best of my knowledge both populations are wild and > unpinned, though many have gotten used to spectators. > > JP > > On Dec 14, 11:32 am, Beth Koebel <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Mark, > > > > They are not truely "wild" as they are in one big huge pen. One part of the park is for the bison and the other part is for the elk. I don't know what keeps the elk from jumping over the fence or the bison from running through the fence, but there are grates that you drive over at the gates so I assume that is what stops them from walking on out. > > > > Beth > > > "He plants trees to benefit another generation." --Caecilius Statius > > > --- On Sat, 12/13/08, Mark <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Mark <[email protected]> > > Subject: [ENTS] Re: Lone Elk State Park-Section 4 (Antire Hills) of Henry Shaw Ozark Corridor > > To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]> > > Date: Saturday, December 13, 2008, 6:02 PM > > > Wow! I honestly had no idea that there were any wild elk or bison in > > Missouri. Do you know if they've been reintroduced, or are part of a > > continuous local population? > > > --mark --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org You are subscribed to the Google Groups "ENTSTrees" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
