Relocation Plan Would Give Elk A Corner Office

Pend Oreille County’s had its share of weird newcomers. But at least one group of transplants appears to have an unconditional welcome.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Department has proposed capturing 100-125 elk from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation and releasing most of them late this winter in Washington’s northeast corner.

Progeny from the half-dozen elk that migrated from the Yakima region in 1972 are about to overrun the sanctuary they found on the Hanford site, where human access is strictly limited.

About 800 elk are concentrated in the 127-square-mile Hanford ecological reserve, a number that could grow to more than 1,000 next year.

“We need to reduce that herd to about 350 animals, preferably in the next three years,” said George Tsukamoto, department big-game chief.

Landowners around the Hanford site can blame themselves for some of the problems they’ve suffered from crop and fence damage. Up to recently, they allowed very little hunting.

This year, they loosened up on access and more than 100 elk were taken by hunters.

But while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service struggles to find a way for more hunting on the restricted land it manages on the Hanford site, a big bunch of elk must disappear, soon.

A few elk might be shipped to Kentucky, where an ambitious elk introduction is being co-sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

But sportsmen would like to keep as many as possible right here in Washington, where elk numbers have declined more than 10 percent since the heyday of the ‘70s.

Open-house meetings on the relocation plans are scheduled from 5 p.m.-9 p.m. tonight at the Clarkston Heights Elementary School and Friday at the Stratton Elementary School in Newport.

A separate proposal to relocate elk to the Blue Mountains appears to be on the shelf, at least for this year.

State wildlife officials are concerned about impacts the elk could have on private crops in the foothills of the Blues, as well as the possibility that year-round tribal hunting could erase the costly efforts of relocation.

This is discouraging to hunters hoping for a quick fix to the decline of elk in the Lick Creek area.

The herd of 1,000 elk that inhabited that drainage 10 years ago has declined to about 600.

“An immediate increase there might jolt that herd into being more productive,” Tsukamoto said. “But those animals have learned to use private lands at lower elevations. That’s an issue we have to deal with.

“Also, a road runs right up the Lick Creek Unit and tribal hunters use it year-round. We’re trying to work out an agreement with the Nez Perce to make an introduction there feasible.”

The prospects are different in northeastern Washington, where members of the Pend Oreille Sportsmen’s Club have been knocking on doors to get support.

Glen “Swede” Bergau, a 76-year-old hunter from Usk, personally contacted the major landholders in the Calispell Lake area, where crop lands could be affected by additional elk.

“Every one of them said bring on the elk,” Bergau said. “This is a golden opportunity I’ve been waiting for ever since we got our first bunch of elk here years ago.”

Steve Zender, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologist in Chewelah, said he’s heard support from county commissioners, timber company executives, tribal officials and the Forest Service.

The first serious introduction of elk to Pend Oreille County occurred in the late 1960s, and elk have moved into most of the available niches in the area, Zender said.

“I’ve been reluctant to introduce more elk because of the problems you can create with landowners,” he said. “But this seems to be the right time in Pend Oreille County. Not only is there great support, but we can help relieve a problem elsewhere in the state.”

Zender would like to spread any elk headed into the county to about five sites in Selkirk Unit 113 and 49 Degrees North unit 117.

“I think our elk suffered during the winter of ‘96-‘97,” Zender said. Although he has no solid science to back it up, he said there’s a chance the bear and cougar preying on elk calves could be stifling elk from their potential.

“The LeClerc Creek group might be producing only 15 calves,” he said. “If we put in another 40 calves into the equation, maybe that would be enough to overcome whatever is holding the elk back.

“At least this would be a chance to find out.”

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation already has been setting the stage for more elk by contributing $52,000 in recent years for controlled burns and other habitat projects in Pend Oreille County. The money was matched by other agencies, including the Forest Service.

On Tuesday, the foundation agreed to spend $12,750 to help capture Hanford elk for relocation this spring.

The Spokane-based Inland Northwest Wildlife Council has offered funding for radio telemetry tracking to study the elk after they are released.

When the ball is rolling that smoothly, a biologist would be a fool to stand in its way, Zender said.

“I’m optimistic we can have more elk around here,” he said, “but maybe not one behind every tree.

“A huge number of elk can’t survive here for the same reason ranchers don’t run their cattle in the forest all winter long.

“The cover is dense, and the habitat isn’t perfect. Maturing clearcuts currently provide good habitat in some areas, but they’re too high for yearlong benefit.

“But almost everyone up here has a soft spot for elk,” he added, “and so do I.”