Скачать или смотреть Virtual Lunch & Learn: Elk Habitat Management with NCWRC Wildlife Biologist Justin McVey

NC Wildlife Resources Commission‘s Wildlife Biologist Justin McVey joins SAHC’s Stewardship Director Sarah Sheeran for a virtual Lunch & Learn about elk, their habitat, and ongoing research and management at SAHC’s Stevens Creek Preserve adjoining Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

In 2001, 52 Rocky Mountain Elk were released into Cataloochee Valley as part of an experimental program to reintroduce elk to the park. Native elk had been eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat. A 2022 DNA study estimated there are now approximately 240 elk in Western North Carolina. In 2023, SAHC’s partners at NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) received grant funding to improve elk habitat on SAHC-owned land on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. SAHC’s 147-acre Stevens Creek Preserve, located at the northern end of Cataloochee Ridge in Haywood County, was purchased in 2013 to protect habitat for elk, turkey, deer and other wildlife, to protect water resources, and to provide a buffer on the edge of the national park.