A Baby Boom for Elk in the Cataloochee Valley

This is the fifth year of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s experimental elk reintroduction, and it looks like a bumper crop of baby elk will be born in June and July this year. Of the 53 elk now in the park, 19 cow elk have reached maturity and are ready to be potential mothers, so the possible boost to the elk population could be significant.

Nine Global Positioning System (GPS) collars, have been recording movements of elk over the last 18 months. Once the data is downloaded and analyzed, researchers will be able to determine where elk like to feed, breed and give birth to calves in the park.

Biologists will also be visiting over 50 elk enclosures in the Smokies to determine what effect elk are having on the flora and fauna. The enclosures are approximately 40’ by 40’ plots with high fences to keep elk out. They give biologists the opportunity to compare habitats browsed by elk to those that aren’t.