CONSERVED FOREVER
New Win for Elk of the Old Dominion
Photo: RMEF
by Paul Queneau
In 2010, Virginia wildlife officials approved a comprehensive program to put 75 elk back into Buchanan County. RMEF and its Virginia volunteers went to work helping to locate suitable areas for elk, clearing brush, applying fertilizer and planting native grasses to improve habitat.
Then on May 23, 2012, Virginia wildlife officials released 20 elk—11 bulls and five cows brought over from Kentucky’s herd, with 4 additional calves born in the holding pen while the animals acclimated to their new location. Wildlife managers went on to release 75 animals total over the next two years. That herd has since climbed to more than 250, enough that Virginia launched its first elk season in 2022. The six hunters with tags all filled them, including a 15-year-old boy that killed a state record right out of the gate that may prove hard to top—a Boone and Crockett non-typical bruiser scoring 4137⁄8 inches.
RMEF could have declared victory at that point and moved on, but its commitment to each of the East’s remarkable elk herds is everlasting. In 2023, the Foundation completed its first-ever land protection and access project in Virginia by helping The Nature Conservancy (TNC) conserve 576 acres known as the Cumberland Forest-Breeding project. Just a few miles from where elk were released into the state, this parcel is also home to white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and a wide variety of upland and migratory bird species.
This acreage will also soon grow after RMEF and TNC complete a second acquisition that will conserve an additional 175 nearby acres.
No state-owned public lands exist in Virginia’s three-county elk management zone, so any projects that guarantee public access are a huge win for hunting, wildlife and habitat conservation. These parcels sit adjacent to an additional 1,100 acres owned by TNC, which has pledged to allow limited elk hunting in anticipation of future conveyance to the state of Virginia.
This marks yet another notable first (and second) for elk of the Old Dominion—for what will hopefully be many more land protection and access projects to come.
