Elk There First

Wildlife management

A recent Outdoors story was in error for suggesting that Rocky Mountain elk were introduced to the Blue Mountains in 1918, a wildlife biologist said.

Although 28 elk from Yellowstone Park were relocated to the Blues in 1911, followed by 50 elk in 1919 and another 26 in 1931, elk had roamed the mountains long before the releases.

“The numbers of elk were probably incredibly low” in the early 1900s because of various factors ranging from grazing to market hunting, said Woody Myers, Washington fish and Wildlife Department researcher.

But letters and documents dating back as far as 1812 indicate elk were native to the Blue Mountains, he said. , DataTimes