Ataya:A Powerhouse for Access
A new die has been cast for how to provide the two things Kentucky elk—and hunters— need most.PHOTO: Ben Childers
PHOTO: James Shuey
by Paul Queneau
A week before Christmas in 1997, four thousand people stood fanned in a giant crescent across Potato Knob, all staring at the meadow below, eyes lasered on two livestock trailers.
The throng included hundreds of Kentucky school children brought in on a fleet of 61 buses who had come not to see Santa’s reindeer, but another mythic hoofed animal. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation co-founder Bob Munson attended the event as well, and recalls the anticipation was so intense “you could have heard a pin drop.”
That changed instantly the moment wildlife officials swung open the trailer doors. Seven nervous elk emerged and a deafening roar went up from the crowd.
Among those cheering the first elk to step foot on Kentucky soil in more than a century was Robin Webb, then an attorney for Cyprus-Amax Minerals who’d worked underground in Kentucky’s coal mines before getting her law degree. She’d come to the newly-established 16,000-acre Cyprus-Amax Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in rural Perry County with her father, the late Robert Webb, who served 32 years on the Kentucky Wildlife Commission, to witness this historic release.“I kind of felt sorry for those wobbly-kneed elk trying to get their land legs, looking like newborn calves. But then they took off,” she recalls. “Standing there next to my dad, I remember just being so excited. I’m a hunter, and elk are one of the most majestic creatures in the world.”
Just over 25 years later, Kentucky elk have become one of North America’s great wildlife restoration success stories. This past April, Webb proudly stood on another reclaimed Kentucky coal mine to mark the next big chapter for this now‑legendary herd—the creation of the 54,560‑acre Cumberland Forest Wildlife Management Area, now open to permanent public access courtesy of the Ataya voluntary conservation agreement.In 1999, Webb got elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, then 10 years later to the state Senate. She’s now served the people of the Bluegrass State for a quarter century, including as president of the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses and co-chair of the Kentucky Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus.
As a Democratic senator in a Republican supermajority legislature, she recently helped build a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers to fund a bold new way of doing conservation that just succeeded in creating permanent access to almost 55,000 acres of private land for hunters, anglers, hikers and other recreationists in one of the state’s most coveted elk hunting units. More than 10,000 elk now roam the 16-county elk zone in the southeast corner of Kentucky, which at more than 4 million acres is almost twice the size of Yellowstone National Park. Yet of all that country, very little of it has permanent public access.
This voluntary conservation agreement ensures access not just for recreation and wildlife management but also for habitat stewardship—critical needs for the East’s largest herd to continue to thrive."
That changed in a big way in 2023 after Kentucky’s legislature voted 111-2 to authorize Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) to acquire a conservation easement creating the 54,560-acre Cumberland Forest WMA. It followed more than a decade of work by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with RMEF and KDFWR lending a hand since 2018. This voluntary conservation agreement ensures access not just for recreation but also wildlife management and habitat stewardship—both basic needs to foster a bright future for the East’s largest herd. “We’ve created a template we aim to replicate,” says Ben Robinson, KDFWR director of wildlife, about the conservation agreement with permanent public access.
Just 30 years ago, a wild elk herd hadn’t roamed the southeastern U.S. since the Civil War. But that changed on a grand scale between 1997 and 2002 when Kentucky wildlife managers released more than 1,500 elk brought in from six western states onto eight reclaimed mines in the state’s southeastern coalfields. RMEF provided funding and volunteer manpower to bolster this effort every step of the way.
Elk quickly shattered all expectations of what was possible on the Cumberland Plateau, posting reproduction rates as high as 80 calves per 100 cows—numbers even the West’s most prolific herds seldom match. Mild winters and few predators surely helped, but the prime accelerant of this explosion was superb habitat.
Federal law requires that surface mines undergo land reclamation, which offered great forage. Growing elk herds took full advantage of hundreds of thousands of acres of wide-open grasslands created on lands previously cloaked in hardwoods.
In 2001, Kentucky began offering elk tags to hunters as the herd took off like a rocket, topping 10,000 animals by 2009. Then starting in 2011, Kentucky served as the source for subsequent elk restorations in Virginia, West Virginia, Missouri and Wisconsin, sharing its bounty just as Yellowstone did for so many places a century ago.
A native of eastern Kentucky and a proud RMEF Life Member, Rich Storm directs KDFWR as commissioner (separate from the state’s wildlife commission). He says the sheer size of Kentucky’s elk restoration won’t likely ever be replicated, especially now that fears of chronic wasting disease have stopped most interstate transfer of cervids.
“It’s just awesome how my predecessors had the guts to pull it off,” says Storm. “Guts, and great partnerships. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation poured its blood, sweat and tears into getting elk off and rolling in this state.”
Elk quickly shattered all expectations of what was possible on the reclaimed grasslands of the Cumberland Plateau, posting reproduction rates as high as 80 calves per 100 cows—numbers even the West’s most prolific herds seldom match."
To date, RMEF has supplied more than $2.5 million and significant volunteer support to help restore wild, free-ranging elk to their historic Kentucky range. The herd is now the largest east of the Mississippi River, and this fall 500 lucky hunters, both residents and nonresidents, will draw tags to hunt them.
Elk are a massive point of pride for Kentuckians, and rightly so, bringing a much-needed boost to the economies of small towns that dot the state’s elk zone. A KDFWR survey estimated that in 2022, elk hunting had a $3.1 million impact in Kentucky.
Yet there’s remained one big Achilles heel that’s always clouded the future of this historic herd: a lack of permanent public access. Will Bowling is well versed in this issue, having worked for KDFWR for eight years before joining the staff of TNC and most recently RMEF, where now he serves as a conservation program manager for the southeast U.S.
“After I started working for the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources in 2005, I remember one of my old bosses saying our original sin in Kentucky was putting a highly sought-after public resource on private property,” he says. “Luckily, we just gained a ton of ground on that front with the Ataya Project—almost 55,000 acres worth.”
Elk are a massive point of pride for Kentuckians, and rightly so, bringing a much-needed boost to the economies of small towns that dot the state’s elk zone."
“The Cumberland Plateau hosts rich temperate hardwood forests that turn out to be one of the most important migratory corridors on the planet in the face of climate change,” says David Phemister, TNC Kentucky state director. “It’s a spot elk are busy expanding out from and a key stopover for migratory raptors and neotropical songbirds. It also has off-the-chart diversity. As one example, there are more species of salamanders in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama than anywhere else on Earth. It’s vital both to the little crawly things and big animals like black bears, white-tailed deer—and of course, elk.”
Having protected almost 120 million acres to date, TNC is America’s largest conservation nonprofit. But in the southeastern coalfields, Phemister says TNC saw a chance to try something brand new.
“We were really looking for a big chunk of property in the Appalachians where we could plant not just a conservation flag, but test a new model for how we might finance conservation using what we call ‘impact investment’—bringing in private capital and trying to structure a project in a way that yields some financial return to the investors, but also yields great environmental returns and community returns.”
TNC had seen the broad interest and support elk garner in this region, boosting conservation for countless other species as well as a local economy that’s struggled mightily as its main industry—surface coal mining—has declined by more than 80% since 2000.
Yet the majority of public access available to most elk hunters there has always rested on a tightrope.
“We essentially trade landowner elk tags for public access,” says John Hast, KDFWR elk program coordinator. “For every 5,000 acres a landowner enrolls, they get one fully transferable either-sex elk tag.
That’s opened more than 300,000 acres to public access, but landowners have a 30-day out, and many are coal companies that change hands pretty frequently.”
In other words, land that has been legally accessible to hunters for decades can be posted No Trespassing with just 30 days’ notice.
Yet if large blocks of land can be put into permanent public access, it will not only solidify future hunting opportunities but create a year-round draw for other outdoor recreational pursuits.
“Out West there are a great number of old mining towns that are now really strong economically, and it’s all geared toward outdoor recreation. There’s no reason to think that same kind of transformation couldn’t happen in eastern Kentucky,” says Phemister.
A lack of permanent public access has clouded the future of Kentucky's outstanding elk herd since day one. But with the Cumberland Forest-Ataya conservation easement and access agreement, those clouds just parted."
Creating a public-access mecca for hunters, anglers, hikers, birders and others who enjoy the outdoors in the Appalachian region was one of the key goals TNC had in mind in 2019 when they purchased a 253,000-acre property spanning Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia—an expanse nearly the size of Rocky Mountain National Park.
The first purchase known as the Ataya parcel covered 100,000 acres split almost equally between Kentucky and Tennessee.
TNC’s first order of business was getting that land Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, a set of global standards that upped the value of its lumber through sustainable harvest practices.
“This ground has been worked pretty hard through the years, and we wanted forestry to continue while ensuring it maximizes the wildlife values, carbon sequestration and benefits for local economies by working with the local loggers and the local forest products industry,” says Phemister.
Kentucky’s 16-county elk zone borders similar coalfields of nearby states, and elk pay little heed to state boundaries. To them it’s all one beautiful oasis of habitat.
“When I was an elk biologist for KDFWR doing aerial counts, we’d be up in the plane and I’d look down and be like, ‘Whoops, we’re in Tennessee,” says Bowling. “We’d accidentally crossed the line as we were distracted counting elk. This is truly a regional population that crosses back and forth across the border all the time.”
But hunters know elk heed invisible lines if they create a safe haven, namely private-land boundaries marked with No Trespassing signs. That’s why large blocks of public access are key for hunting opportunity. Though Kentucky holds far more elk, Tennessee has far more permanent public access in its elk zone.
In 2000, RMEF volunteers hauled 50 elk from Alberta to launch the Volunteer State’s herd, which the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) released onto the 50,000-acre Royal Blue WMA just south of the Kentucky border. Three years later a $100,000 RMEF grant helped Tennessee purchase 74,000 acres bordering the Royal Blue from The Conservation Fund (TCF). Now called the Sundquist unit, it’s part of the North Cumberland WMA. That WMA grew even larger in 2022 thanks to TNC which sold a 43,000-acre conservation easement —the southern half of TNC’s Ataya purchase—to Tennessee to create the Ed Carter Unit. Soon after, RMEF helped fund another 850-acre addition to this unit working with TNC and TCF.
After two decades of conservation partnerships, Tennessee elk have more than 200,000 acres of public land to roam—as does any lucky hunter who draws an elk tag there.
But just north in Kentucky, wildlife managers have had very little wiggle room to acquire new state lands even though there are millions of dollars of Pittman-Robertson funds available to help pay for purchases.
“When I started with the department, we actually had a total blockade—we couldn’t buy any land under any circumstance,” says commissioner Storm. He cites many factors that played into that restriction, but chief among them was the concern that public lands decreased the tax base along with agricultural and forestry uses.
When TNC initially considered selling the 54,560 acres of Ataya, it was an offer many didn’t want to pass up. But Storm says first the Republican governor then the succeeding Democratic governor did not support the acquisition.
Then a new idea began to take shape. If sufficient funding could be raised, it could be used to purchase the largest conservation easement in Kentucky history, one that would keep the land in private hands but still create a state-run wildlife management area providing permanent protection, public access and forest stewardship. First, though, KDFWR would need to find $14 million.
The Cumberland Forest WMA is a landmark success not only for Kentucky, but the entire Appalachian region. Every setback and every stumbling block was met with resiliency from TNC, KDFWR and the Kentucky General Assembly. With commitment like that, I know RMEF and its partners are poised to make historic improvements for elk and other wildlife in the East.”
Their first hurdle was to get the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission to approve the establishment of the permanent easement, which easily passed in June 2022. Then it was time to see if they could get the legislature on board.
Phemister, TNC’s Director of External Affairs Heather Jeffs and RMEF Senior Conservation Program Manager Steven Dobey began approaching every representative and senator they knew at the state capitol in Frankfort.
Webb was instantly on board and excited to help, as was Sen. Brandon Smith and Adam Bowling, a Republican member from the 87th District of Kentucky’s House of Representatives. Rep. Bowling is an eighth-generation resident of Bell County, where Ataya now covers more than a quarter of the county. He grew up roaming the property since the companies that owned it always kept it open.
“What’s so great about this project is how it ensures access not just for myself, but for future generations,” Rep. Bowling says. “I think about my two boys, and if we’re lucky enough to have grandchildren, they’ll have access too. When you look at those 55,000 acres, the possibilities are endless. If it’s properly managed for fishing, hunting, outdoor recreation, that’s great for tourism, which is great for economic development. Plus it stays on our local property tax base, just a win-win-win for our state, our local governments and our citizens.
Bowling and Webb helped rally members of their respective chambers, and had staunch support from Senate President Robert Stivers. One by one, virtually the entire body got on board.
“The General Assembly truly cared about this project, and they passed two pieces of legislation that gave us the autonomy to spend our money on these kinds of projects,” says Storm. “But they did far more than that.”
Coming out of COVID, many states including Kentucky received a windfall from the federal Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration grant program thanks to federal excise taxes from the surge in hunting and shooting sports. Also known as Pittman-Robertson (P-R) funding, it provides a three-to-one match for state funds spent on wildlife conservation.
The opportunity to triple their money was enough to convince Kentucky’s General Assembly to invest $3.875 million of general funds so KDFWR could secure an additional $9.75 million in P-R funding.
We couldn't do anything we do without RMEF. They’re always in the room as a credible resource everyone identifies with, and having credible partners with a good track record enables projects like this to get done.”
RMEF’s Dobey, meanwhile, secured a $650,000 grant through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Acres for America conservation program. Funded by Walmart to help offset its 100,000-acre corporate footprint, Acres for America has protected 2.1 million acres over the past 20 years.
“This is a big deal for Kentucky and a big deal for this landscape,” says NFWF’s Chris West.
Dobey hopes it’s just the tip of the iceberg. “The Cumberland Forest WMA is truly a landmark success not only for Kentucky, but the entire Appalachian region,” he says. “But the real story was the long path to this day—every single setback and every stumbling block was met with complete resiliency from TNC, KDFWR and the Kentucky General Assembly. With commitment like that, I know RMEF and its partners are poised to make historic improvements for elk and other wildlife in the East.”
PHOTO: RMEF
With the easement signed and paid for, KDFWR put up signs welcoming people to the freshly minted Cumberland Forest Wildlife Management Area this spring just in time for a dedication ceremony that RMEF held there in April. All the major players were present, including Storm, who admitted he’d been skeptical the effort would succeed every step of the way.
“We failed over and over again, but this just feels better because we did,” he says. “We failed and we wiped ourselves off, got back up and never quit trying. For me, seeing this completed is truly a lifetime achievement.”Webb felt similar, choking up as she spoke to the crowd after being honored for her efforts at the event with RMEF’s Excellence in Advocacy Award.
“We’ve got to keep building alliances like this, and continue working, like Adam [Bowling] said, for our children and grandchildren to have the same access and enjoyment that our forefathers gave us. Y’all, I’m seldom lost for words. I can talk about this all day because it’s my passion. But this is a highlight of my career. I know my daddy is smiling down.”