Wildlife managers from 18 states with wild elk herds just wrapped up a two-day meeting in Missoula at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
“I think the national elk herd is doing well.”
Blake Henning is the foundation’s VP for lands and conservation. He says a few individual herds are struggling across the country, including in Montana, but in general the outlook is positive for elk nationwide.
“We’ve got 4 states over the last four or five years that restored elk. So, Virginia, Missouri, [have restored elk]; West Virginia is now talking about bringing elk in.”
Henning says elk managers and foundation staff also talked about the need for hunting advocates to be active on social media.
He says predators continue to be an issue for elk in the Greater Yellowstone area, and that the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation supports the government’s proposal to take grizzly bears off the endangered species list.