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A bull elk as it bugles for a mate at a reclaimed coal mine site in Knott County, Kentucky in 2007.
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Elk comeback benefits wide range of wildlife

Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources

Elk comeback benefits wide range of wildlife

During the course of the year, conservation-minded folks will gather in places such as Ogden, Utah, and Thief River Falls in Minnesota, plus the Idaho community of Kellogg and in the Florida Gulf Coast escape Naples. They will have a few drinks, tell some stories, share a meal, bid on auction items, and take part in raffles.

Then when the 500-some chapters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation have concluded their fund-raising banquets, millions of dollars will be ready to invest in habitat, access, and elk restoration programs all across North America.

In the forests, mountains, prairies, and wilderness areas of the continent, the critter crowd should applaud, since every cent RMEF plows into its multitude of projects benefits every resident of the outdoors world. That’s how this works — elk might be in the name, but the beneficiaries of the organization’s work include antelope, migratory songbirds, bears, wolves, waterfowl, mule deer, grouse, rabbits, and countless others occupying all the links in the food chain and every niche in the ecosystem.

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“I’ve been involved forever, and the mission is very simply stated, and it’s never changed,” said Tom Schuster, who has served numerous roles in the local chapter of RMEF and worked at the state level.

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VIDEO: Sounds of Elk Country (via Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)

“The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation exists for the purpose of ensuring the future of elk and other wildlife, their habitat, and our hunting heritage.”

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Ohio has at least a half dozen active chapters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Although they once were common in Ohio, along with cougars, bison, and wolves, elk have not been present in the Buckeye State for at least 175 years. Loss of habitat and unregulated harvest led to their demise throughout much of their original range.

“We believe that what we’re doing is primarily a conservation effort — it’s not about hunting,” Schuster said. “In places where we’ve done habitat projects, many other species of wildlife have had their numbers double, triple, or quadruple. Everything benefits, and everything prospers.”

There have been preliminary studies and some discussion about bringing elk back to Ohio, with the Wayne National Forest area in the southeastern part of the state viewed as a segment of potential suitable habitat, but no plans are in the works at this point. Successful reintroductions of elk have taken place in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky, and Wisconsin, along with Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Ontario.

Rob Ruth of Washington Court House, the RMEF representative for Ohio and Indiana, said a percentage of the money raised at the events in Ohio comes back to the state in the terms of grants, funding for conservation-related school projects, archery instruction, ecology efforts, sporting clay teams, and to help out with the Farmers & Hunters Feeding the Hungry program.

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“A lot of the things we do might not have anything to do with elk, and many of these habitat restoration projects, just by their sheer size, go well beyond just benefiting elk,” he said. “While we are working to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife also benefit from our mission, and all of our habitat efforts.”

To date, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has protected and enhanced more than 7.4 million acres of habitat and helped secure access to some 1.2 million acres for hunting and other outdoor recreation. The organization has taken on almost 12,000 projects across North America, and thanks to the efforts of its almost quarter million members, elk herds now roam the restored coalfields of Kentucky, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, the Pigeon River Country State Forest in Michigan, and in the Tomblin Wildlife Area of West Virginia.

Before the European settlers arrived, more than 10 million elk were thought to be present across most of what today makes up the U.S. and Canada. The North American population today is around 1 million, with about one-fourth of that number living in Colorado.

“Some of the members of the local chapter have gone out west, and it’s such a neat experience to see them in person and hear the bulls bugling,” Schuster said. “They are such a unique and beautiful animal, and when you see them you are in awe at the size of these things.”

The Rocky Mountain elk, one of the six subspecies that at one time inhabited North America, measure eight feet from nose-to-tail for the bulls, and weigh around 700 pounds while standing about five feet tall at the shoulder. The antlers on a bull elk can weigh 40 pounds and stretch an additional four feet above the head.

Since the Eastern elk subspecies is thought to be extinct since the last known animal was killed in Pennsylvania in 1877, Rocky Mountain elk have been transplanted to the states east of the Mississippi River, where restoration projects have been undertaken by RMEF.

The Northwest Ohio Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation holds its annual fundraising banquet March 9 at Holland Gardens Banquet Hall. This is the 25th year for the event, and a quarter of a century of protecting and preserving habitat and the hunting tradition will be celebrated with a fine meal and a long list of auctions and raffles.

A Weatherby Mark V Weathermark 300 Mag is the special banquet edition rifle featured that night, along with a 25th Anniversary Marlin 30.30 rifle, Kimber Camp Guard and Home Guard pistols, bows, premium hunts, trips, adventures, limited edition art, and other gear.

The doors open at 5 p.m. and tickets are available by contacting Gary Seymour at 419-367-6008 or hmcgee30@yahoo.com.

“We do very well in Ohio,” Ruth said, “because a lot of sportsmen and women in the state that are very interested in the mission of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation see the good work that RMEF is doing for habitat and wildlife, and it means a lot to them. These are some of the best people I have ever met, and they support something they really believe in.”

FLY FISHING FILM: The Fallen Timbers Chapter of Trout Unlimited will present its 2019 Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) at the Maumee Indoor Theater on March 2, with the doors opening at 6 p.m. and the film presentation at 7 p.m. This adventure takes fly anglers around the globe with stories and imagery from Alaska to Florida, South Dakota to French Polynesia, and British Columbia to the coast of Australia. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, and are available at Wildwood Anglers in Sylvania or online at flyfilmtour.com. Funds raised from the film presentation assist the chapter with clean water conservation projects, and youth activities including Trout in the Classroom and Boy Scout merit badges, STREAMGirls events, and fly fishing opportunities for veterans and active military. For more information, contact Brad White at info@fttu.org or view the events page at fttu.org.

First Published February 19, 2019, 12:05 a.m.

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A bull elk as it bugles for a mate at a reclaimed coal mine site in Knott County, Kentucky in 2007.  (Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources)
Kentucky Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources
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