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Local groups support stopping elk hunting in SW Virginia.
By ROBERT BAIRD, The Coalfield Progress Staff Writer
December 20, 2001
WISE - Allowing Southwest Virginia's elk population to grow and flourish will provide both tourism and hunting opportunities in the future, local leaders say.
But the Wise County Farm Bureau's top two officials support the continued hunting of elk because they fear the animals might damage crops and private property.
A state agency's decision earlier this year to allow hunting of both male and female elk during any deer season remains a controversial issue.
Wise County and the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority are the latest additions to a list of counties and organizations asking the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to stop elk hunting in Southwest Virginia.
Elk hunting should be postponed until the population can support a hunting season that would be carefully monitored, according to resolutions adopted by Wise County supervisors and the tourism authority.
Virginia is not currently stocking elk within the state. Instead, elk found in Virginia's coalfields have wandered across the state line from Kentucky, where game officials have launched a massive campaign to reintroduce elk in that state's southeastern counties.
TOURISM ADVOCATES SPEAK
"Kentucky has plans to bring even more elk in, to reintroduce elk into the southern Appalachians," St. Paul attorney Frank Kilgore told Wise County supervisors last Thursday.
A well-established elk population can be a tremendous tourism opportunity for Southwest Virginia, Kilgore said.
More than 1,000 tourists visit Elk County, Pa., each day to see elk herds there, Kilgore explained. Officials in that rural Pennsylvania county - located northeast of Pittsburgh - say elk is the key element of their tourism program, he said.
A former chairman of the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority's board of directors, Kilgore has repeatedly criticized the Virginia game department's decision to allow elk hunting.
"Kentucky is providing healthy elk to us for free and in return the (game department) is treating elk as invading vermin," Kilgore wrote in a letter recently published in area newspapers.
During a Wednesday interview, tourism authority director Geneva O'Quinn agreed elk watching is a popular tourist activity. People visit Elk County and Jackson Hole, Wyo., to see elk populations there, she noted.
"Naturally, we hope that if they can thrive and the herd can grow, we could market that for tourism opportunities," O'Quinn said.
Kilgore told Wise County supervisors he favors a hunting program "later on," once elk are established in Southwest Virginia. Hunting could be administered through a lottery system, he said, and lottery proceeds could compensate farmers whose property is damaged by elk.
The game and inland fisheries department is spreading "misinformation," Kilgore said, implying elk from Colorado have an illness known as "chronic wasting disease."
"Well, I have good news. The (Kentucky) elk aren't from Colorado," Kilgore concluded.
Chronic wasting disease affects white-tailed deer, elk and mule deer. The fatal brain disease causes a dramatic loss of weight. According to the Internet sites of game departments in Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri, there is no evidence the disease can be transmitted to humans or livestock.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED, QUESTIONS ASKED
During Wise County supervisors' Dec. 13 meeting, Starling Fleming and Hibert Tackett Jr., the county farm bureau's president and vice president, opposed the resolution that asks state officials to prohibit elk hunting. (See related story, Page 7.)
The board of supervisors approved the resolution, but members Doug Mullins and Betty Cornett abstained. Mullins said he initially favored the resolution but now wonders whether supervisors have sufficient information to take action in light of concerns raised by Fleming and Tackett.
Buchanan County supervisors and the Virginia Mining Association have adopted nearly identical resolutions. Buchanan County - which has asked for support from Southwest Virginia localities - will forward the resolutions to state legislators.
The Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority board adopted a similar resolution during its Dec. 4 meeting but not before questions were asked about the document's wording.
In its original form, the tourism authority's resolution stated the Virginia game agency "has decided to eradicate Virginia's elk" before herds can be established.
O'Quinn asked whether the "eradicate" language should be removed to prevent a conflict between the tourism authority and state game department. The two organizations are coordinating a bird and wildlife watching trail, she noted.
Russell County board member Sharon Keith noted the game department is a "potential funding source." The tourism board adopted the resolution but struck the "eradicate" wording.
GAME DEPARTMENT RESPONDS
In May the state's game and fish board approved hunting of both male and female elk during all deer seasons.
The board approved the wildlife regulation after holding six informal hearings and 11 public input meetings, according to William Woodfin Jr., director of the state game and inland fisheries department.
The game department believes the board's decision was appropriate, Woodfin wrote in a Sept. 17 letter to Kilgore.
In a Dec. 4 written statement faxed to local newspapers, Woodfin says the game department "would like to provide some factual background information on the issue, as well as clarify some misperceptions that have been reported."
An earlier elk restocking program in Virginia - which began in the early 1900s and ended later -was largely unsuccessful, Woodfin wrote. The elk did not reproduce as well as expected, he wrote, and "diseases unique to elk and deer surfaced."
For several years, elk hunting has been legal in Virginia during deer season because both species are members of the deer family, according to Woodfin. The most recent wildlife regulation change simply expanded elk hunting to include either sex of the animal during any deer season.
"To say it another way, it has been legal to take elk in Virginia for years as long as an elk was taken during a legal deer season," Woodfin wrote.
Virginia game officials won't be influenced by decisions made in other states, Woodfin wrote. "Just as Kentucky was free to make its individual wildlife decision to stock elk, Virginia, likewise, should be free to manage the destiny of its wildlife."
"Our Board's decision to allow either sex hunting of elk was not an angry response to Kentucky's stocking program, but simply a recognition that we do not desire to have the de facto stocking of elk in Virginia," he wrote.
By ROBERT BAIRD, The Coalfield Progress Staff Writer
December 20, 2001
WISE - Allowing Southwest Virginia's elk population to grow and flourish will provide both tourism and hunting opportunities in the future, local leaders say.
But the Wise County Farm Bureau's top two officials support the continued hunting of elk because they fear the animals might damage crops and private property.
A state agency's decision earlier this year to allow hunting of both male and female elk during any deer season remains a controversial issue.
Wise County and the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority are the latest additions to a list of counties and organizations asking the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to stop elk hunting in Southwest Virginia.
Elk hunting should be postponed until the population can support a hunting season that would be carefully monitored, according to resolutions adopted by Wise County supervisors and the tourism authority.
Virginia is not currently stocking elk within the state. Instead, elk found in Virginia's coalfields have wandered across the state line from Kentucky, where game officials have launched a massive campaign to reintroduce elk in that state's southeastern counties.
TOURISM ADVOCATES SPEAK
"Kentucky has plans to bring even more elk in, to reintroduce elk into the southern Appalachians," St. Paul attorney Frank Kilgore told Wise County supervisors last Thursday.
A well-established elk population can be a tremendous tourism opportunity for Southwest Virginia, Kilgore said.
More than 1,000 tourists visit Elk County, Pa., each day to see elk herds there, Kilgore explained. Officials in that rural Pennsylvania county - located northeast of Pittsburgh - say elk is the key element of their tourism program, he said.
A former chairman of the Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority's board of directors, Kilgore has repeatedly criticized the Virginia game department's decision to allow elk hunting.
"Kentucky is providing healthy elk to us for free and in return the (game department) is treating elk as invading vermin," Kilgore wrote in a letter recently published in area newspapers.
During a Wednesday interview, tourism authority director Geneva O'Quinn agreed elk watching is a popular tourist activity. People visit Elk County and Jackson Hole, Wyo., to see elk populations there, she noted.
"Naturally, we hope that if they can thrive and the herd can grow, we could market that for tourism opportunities," O'Quinn said.
Kilgore told Wise County supervisors he favors a hunting program "later on," once elk are established in Southwest Virginia. Hunting could be administered through a lottery system, he said, and lottery proceeds could compensate farmers whose property is damaged by elk.
The game and inland fisheries department is spreading "misinformation," Kilgore said, implying elk from Colorado have an illness known as "chronic wasting disease."
"Well, I have good news. The (Kentucky) elk aren't from Colorado," Kilgore concluded.
Chronic wasting disease affects white-tailed deer, elk and mule deer. The fatal brain disease causes a dramatic loss of weight. According to the Internet sites of game departments in Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri, there is no evidence the disease can be transmitted to humans or livestock.
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED, QUESTIONS ASKED
During Wise County supervisors' Dec. 13 meeting, Starling Fleming and Hibert Tackett Jr., the county farm bureau's president and vice president, opposed the resolution that asks state officials to prohibit elk hunting. (See related story, Page 7.)
The board of supervisors approved the resolution, but members Doug Mullins and Betty Cornett abstained. Mullins said he initially favored the resolution but now wonders whether supervisors have sufficient information to take action in light of concerns raised by Fleming and Tackett.
Buchanan County supervisors and the Virginia Mining Association have adopted nearly identical resolutions. Buchanan County - which has asked for support from Southwest Virginia localities - will forward the resolutions to state legislators.
The Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority board adopted a similar resolution during its Dec. 4 meeting but not before questions were asked about the document's wording.
In its original form, the tourism authority's resolution stated the Virginia game agency "has decided to eradicate Virginia's elk" before herds can be established.
O'Quinn asked whether the "eradicate" language should be removed to prevent a conflict between the tourism authority and state game department. The two organizations are coordinating a bird and wildlife watching trail, she noted.
Russell County board member Sharon Keith noted the game department is a "potential funding source." The tourism board adopted the resolution but struck the "eradicate" wording.
GAME DEPARTMENT RESPONDS
In May the state's game and fish board approved hunting of both male and female elk during all deer seasons.
The board approved the wildlife regulation after holding six informal hearings and 11 public input meetings, according to William Woodfin Jr., director of the state game and inland fisheries department.
The game department believes the board's decision was appropriate, Woodfin wrote in a Sept. 17 letter to Kilgore.
In a Dec. 4 written statement faxed to local newspapers, Woodfin says the game department "would like to provide some factual background information on the issue, as well as clarify some misperceptions that have been reported."
An earlier elk restocking program in Virginia - which began in the early 1900s and ended later -was largely unsuccessful, Woodfin wrote. The elk did not reproduce as well as expected, he wrote, and "diseases unique to elk and deer surfaced."
For several years, elk hunting has been legal in Virginia during deer season because both species are members of the deer family, according to Woodfin. The most recent wildlife regulation change simply expanded elk hunting to include either sex of the animal during any deer season.
"To say it another way, it has been legal to take elk in Virginia for years as long as an elk was taken during a legal deer season," Woodfin wrote.
Virginia game officials won't be influenced by decisions made in other states, Woodfin wrote. "Just as Kentucky was free to make its individual wildlife decision to stock elk, Virginia, likewise, should be free to manage the destiny of its wildlife."
"Our Board's decision to allow either sex hunting of elk was not an angry response to Kentucky's stocking program, but simply a recognition that we do not desire to have the de facto stocking of elk in Virginia," he wrote.
