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🇦🇷 Argentina /Environment & Climate

More Than 1,500 Elk Released on Open-Pit Coal Mines, With a Surprise Three Decades Later

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Kentucky relocated 1,541 elk from six western states between 1997 and 2002, and the herd has grown to about 13,000 animals.
  • Reclaimed open-pit coal mines provided open grazing areas that helped the reintroduced elk thrive after the species had disappeared from Kentucky.
  • Regulated hunting now generates millions of dollars for communities affected by the decline of the coal industry, while Kentucky supplies elk to restoration projects in other states.

Kentucky’s reclaimed coal mines have helped produce the largest elk herd east of the Rocky Mountains. Nearly three decades after the state began bringing the animals back, the population has reached about 13,000.

Between 1997 and 2002, environmental authorities moved 1,541 elk from six western states, including Arizona, Kansas and Oregon, to Kentucky’s Cumberland Plateau. The eastern elk had disappeared from the state in the 19th century after excessive hunting and habitat loss, leaving Kentucky without the animals for roughly a century.

The return became possible partly because of an unexpected landscape created by surface mining. Large-scale coal extraction blasted apart mountain ridges, but federal law required the reclaimed land to be replanted with hardy grasses. The result was open pasture rather than dense forest, giving elk broad areas to feed while nearby woods offered cover.

The mining turned wooded areas into plains, which created a new habitat where elk thrive.

· Brad KrepsHe described how reclaimed mining areas provided suitable open habitat for elk.

Biologists took advantage of the unusual habitat. Brad Kreps, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Clinch Valley Program, told Garden & Gun that mining had changed wooded areas into plains where elk could prosper. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation provided important funding for the project.

Mild winters and the absence of large predators helped the herd grow steadily. Kentucky authorized regulated hunting in 2001 to manage the population and raise revenue. Thousands of people apply each year for permits through an annual lottery, and the activity brings millions of dollars to communities hit by the coal industry’s decline.

The project has also expanded beyond Kentucky. The state now provides elk for restoration programs in Wisconsin, Virginia, Missouri and West Virginia. The Wildlife Society gave Kentucky’s wildlife department its Wildlife Restoration Award in 2023. Experts still caution that former mines do not constitute an ecosystem without limits, but the restoration effort has turned damaged industrial land into a successful habitat for the species.

Elk Army

· Thomas HamptonThe Virginia wildlife resources manager’s term for the people responsible for the reintroduction project.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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