A large herd gathered last week on a remote, historical farmstead maintained by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Cataloochee Valley. The herd, however, were bipeds Û nearly 900 people were in attendance for the first of three scheduled elk releases.

Twenty-six animals captured and transported from Land Between The Lakes (LBL), a Forest Service National Recreation Area in western Kentucky and Tennessee, were released Feb. 2 in the first phase of a five-year study to determine the feasibility of establishing a free roaming herd in the park. If things go well, up to 30 elk will be released again in 2002 and 2003.

It was a carnival atmosphere complete with tents for registration, tents for ceremonies, tents for TV feeds and closed circuit viewing and tents for food and drinks. Media from area and regional newspapers and TV and national magazines were on hand.

Politicians were shaking hands and smiling into TV cameras. Officials from the GSMNP, the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, University of Tennessee, Land Between The Lakes and friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park were there to celebrate and congratulate each other on a grand and successful project.

There were toddlers and senior citizens present. There were descendants of some of the first white settlers in Cataloochee. Elk had been extirpated from North Carolina before these settlers reached the valley. Vice-Chief Carroll Crowe of the Eastern Band of Cherokees was present, representing a culture that had previously shared the Smokies with native elk.

Cowboy hats, boots and belt buckles were the accessories of choice for many of the members and officers of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The RMEF has donated $1 million and is the primary financial backer of this experimental release.

Kim Delozier, GSMNP wildlife biologist, has worked tirelessly to bring elk back to these mountains. Delozier and park personnel along with biologists and staff from Land Between The Lakes were responsible for trapping, transporting and releasing the elk.

At the opening ceremony, Delozier said he had goose bumps. He told the crowd that a lot of people invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears to make the release successful.

But all the ceremony and acknowledgments and credits were, simply, the warm up act. There was no mistaking who the stars of this production were Û Cervus elaphus, the American elk, or Wapiti.

Scientist believe the elk arrived in North America from Asia as early as 120,000 years ago. It is considered to be descended from the Asian Red Deer. In Europe and most other places around the world, the word elk refers to the animal North Americans know as the moose, Alces alces.

The name Wapiti comes from the Shoshone Indians and means Ïpale deer.Ó The Cherokee word for elk is Ïawiegwa.Ó There were believed to be six subspecies of elk in North America in the past. Two, the MerriamÌs elk, from Arizona, and the eastern elk, that once roamed the Appalachians are now extinct. The elk released in Cataloochee are Manitoban, thought to be the closest subspecies to the extinct eastern elk.

The American elk is the second-largest member of the deer family (the moose is the largest). Adult bulls may weigh as much as 1,000 pounds and 600-800 pounds is common. The antlers of an adult bull may weigh 40 pounds. The main beams may exceed four feet in length, and the tips of the two main beams may be as wide as three feet apart. Antlers are shed every year. Adult cows are about 25 percent smaller than bulls.

Elk are polygamous and bulls begin to gather a harem of cows in early autumn. These harems may contain as many as 30 or more animals. Bulls become very territorial during rutting season and often spar with other bulls. These clashes, though dramatic, are seldom lethal.

Elk generally mate in September and gestation is between eight and nine months. Calves are usually born in May or June. Rutting season is the only time bulls and cows herd together. The rest of the time cows and calves herd together, large bulls tend to be solitary and younger bulls live together in bachelor groups.

Although elk are common in forested areas today, scientist believe they evolved as plains animals. Elk have keen senses. Their large eyes, positioned on the sides of the head give them nearly 360-degree vision. Their large ears can twist and turn forward and back. By traveling in herds, they insure that there is always a Ïlookout.Ó

In the park, black bears would be the only predator that might take a yearling or adult cow. Bears, coyotes and bobcats might try for a newborn

Elk are probably the noisiest of the deer family. Mothers recognize the squeals of their newborns. There are miscellaneous grunts, mews and chirps that appear to be communication between herd members and the bugling of bull elks is legendary. Bulls bugle during the rut as an advertisement to nearby cows and a warning to nearby bulls.

Elk eat a variety of foods. During spring and summer elk are predominantly grazers, feeding on a variety of grasses. From late summer through autumn elk add a lot of browse ( broad-leaved plants, shrubs and tree leaves) to their diet. During the winter they browse and also add bark twigs and tree lichens to their diet.

Three different groups of 150 media and onlookers hiked two-tenths of a mile last Friday to one of three separate releases just to get a glimpse as one of the three trailers unloaded its precious cargo into a three-acre acclimation pen. Hundreds more spectators watched the release on huge TV screens set up inside one of the tents.

Around April, as the forest begins to green and the grasses begin to grow and before calving time, the elk will be released into the park.

 

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