We hike up the wooded trail on a warm August day, as cardinals, blue jays and other songbirds dart back and forth into the brush. Within a few minutes, we see much larger wildlife.
The forest opens, revealing a large meadow–once the site of a coal minefield–and our group looks out upon it. I’m here with colleagues from The Nature Conservancy as well as biologists from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). Earlier in the day, they had noted we’d have a high likelihood of success.
One glance across the field reveals that they’re correct. My eyes immediately settle upon our reason for the side trip: a large bull elk rests while chewing its cud. We climb a large viewing platform for a better view.
The meadow stretches out before us. It’s an idyllic wildlife viewing location. In addition to the bull elk, three other elk graze at the edge of the forest. A group of white-tailed does, including one small fawn, nervously glance in our direction. Two flocks of turkeys peck through the grasses.
We’re at the Hatfield Knob Wildlife Viewing Area, located on one of Tennessee’s largest pieces of public land, the North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area. This viewing platform draws thousands of visitors a year, each hoping to see what would have seemed impossible just a few decades ago: elk in the Appalachians.
The elk here are evidence of a dramatic conservation success story, and The Nature Conservancy is playing a role in making sure these animals continue to thrive here.
The Once and Future Elk
Mention elk habitat and, if you’re like most people, your mind automatically goes to the mountains. Wildlife photographers and tourists head to places like Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Park to experience bugling bulls and large herds moving across high-elevation meadows.
That’s elk habitat, or at least that’s the common perception. This is a classic example of shifting baseline syndrome, an ecological term that means the conditions we’re born into are what we consider “normal.” Elk are found in Western national parks and forest lands, and we assume that’s their natural range.
The truth is, mountain elk are a legacy of colonialism and exploitation. Once, elk ranged widely over the North American continent. They are adaptable mammals, and thrived in eastern forests and vast prairies. But they quickly disappeared from those areas, with the last-known elk killed in Tennessee in 1865. Decades of relentless hunting forced them into the highest, most inaccessible habitats—the kinds of places we now consider “elk country.”
After the passage of protective wildlife laws and through reintroduction efforts, elk have thrived in the western United States. But there was good evidence elk could be reintroduced in other parts of their former range. A herd in Pennsylvania, for instance, was thriving. This led to other eastern states considering elk reintroduction.
One of the most successful efforts was in the central Appalachians of Kentucky and Tennessee. In the 1990s, state agencies realized that elk reintroduction was feasible on the forests and abandoned minelands in the Cumberland region. TWRA recognized that “part of the agency’s mission is to restore extirpated wildlife when and where it is biologically and sociologically feasible.”
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a hunter-supported organization with a long history of elk conservation success, could help ensure an effective reintroduction.
Elk reintroduction doesn’t face the same controversial hurdles as, say, gray wolves. Hunters and wildlife watchers both love elk. The opportunity to see elk draws tourists, resulting in an economic boost to local communities.
Kentucky began introducing elk in 1997, with more than 1,000 animals released over the next five years. The elk recovery zone included 16 counties covering 4.1 million acres. Tennessee undertook its own elk reintroduction, releasing 200 animals between 2001 and 2008.
Kentucky’s elk population has flourished, with more than 10,000 animals now estimated in the state. Tennessee, with a much smaller recovery area, still has a viable elk population of 400-450 animals.
The Epicenter of Elk Reintroduction
Of course, for elk to survive and thrive, they need to room to roam and habitat that provides adequate food and shelter. A critical piece of Appalachian elk range is the Cumberland Forest, a 253,000-acre Nature Conservancy project. It spans two parcels: the Highlands in southwest Virginia and the Ataya along the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
This project includes so many elements, including mineland restoration, forest carbon, active forest management and outdoor recreation. The conservation activities benefit a wide range of wildlife, including a diversity of amphibians, bats and songbirds. And elk.
Prior to visiting the elk viewing tower, I spent the afternoon touring around the Tennessee portion of the Ataya tract with TWRA wildlife manager Brenden Marlow. Marlow grew up hunting, fishing and riding ATVs in this region and his passion for the area runs deep. He’ll spend his work days working to restore and enhance wildlife habitat. Then when he gets home, he’ll work on habitat projects around his home property.
“I could talk wildlife management all day long,” he says.
And that’s what we’re doing. TWRA has an easement on the Ataya Tract through TNC, allowing public recreational access. TWRA also coordinates with TNC on restoration projects, which we’re touring today.
“We coordinate on almost a daily basis,” says Marlow. “At first, when TNC acquired this property, some people were nervous about access. Now they see they can still hunt and access their favorite places.”
We stop at a restoration site called Poachers Knob, where a former mine site has been planted with native forbs and wildflowers. Marlow notes this is prime elk habitat, and as we walk through the field, it’s easy to see that they’re using it: tracks are stamped in the mud, and large, circular patches of squashed-down grass show where elk have been bedding.
And what benefits elk benefits other wildlife: on our foray into the field, a flock of turkeys scurries away. The air is abuzz with pollinators. “It’s hard to believe this used to be old coal mine land,” Marlow says.
As we continue through the Ataya tract, Marlow points out other projects. In the past, mine lands were often planted with non-native trees chosen to reduce erosion. Now many areas are being restored to native plants, and the forest is being managed to ensure the most diversity.
“We’re focusing on areas of this property that are best suited for wildlife habitat and reforestation,” Marlow says.
We stop at one such area being replanted with native trees. As if on cue, a cow elk steps out into an opening, stamping her feet nervously. Earlier, another member of our group thought he heard a calf elk mewing.
We move on, leaving her to return to her young. For a span of more than a century, this was an animal that had not been seen here. Now, with habitat protection and restoration, elk have a very different future.
The Elk Viewing Platform
The Nature Conservancy believes that conservation work in the Cumberland Forest has to benefit local communities. It’s clear that community members value elk. They love to watch them. Some apply for the limited hunting tags, or even guide other hunters for a fee.
“When we first heard elk were coming here, it seemed kind of unbelievable,” says Boone Bowling, mayor of Middlesboro, Kentucky. “Now they’ve become such a part of our region. We love the elk, and they also are drawing new people to this area who are coming here to hunt and watch them.”
The Cumberland Forest project was financed using an inventive approach by TNC’s in-house impact investing team, NatureVest, which structured and closed a sustainable forestry fund to purchase and manage the working forest. The project is structured as an impact investment fund that seeks competitive rates of return for third-party investors who have an interest in the creation of environmental and social benefits. TNC is a co-investor in the fund and manages the properties as the fund’s investment manager.
Corporations retained the rights to coal, gas and minerals. As landowners, TNC receives a fractional royalty from any mining or mineral development.
The organization decided the best possible use for these funds was to reinvest them in the local community. This resulted in the Cumberland Forest Community Fund, a local grant program aimed at supporting nature-based and community development in southwest Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The grants fund a variety of projects, but they all have to be sustainable and have a conservation component.
One of those projects was a substantial upgrade to the wildlife-viewing tower at Hatfield Knob, this beautiful spot I’m now visiting. In conjunction with TWRA and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the viewing tower also includes interpretive signs and a walking trail.
We sit at the tower and enjoy the comings and goings of elk, deer and turkeys. The field is planted in forbs and is regularly used by a diversity of species, making it one of the most popular wildlife-watching sites in the region. The field, like so many used by elk, was once an abandoned mine field.
Check out the Elk Cam
Watch elk, deer, turkey and more live from the Hatfield Knob elk tower.
“We have 10,000 to 15,000 visitors here a year,” says TWRA wildlife manager Darrell England. “It’s become a destination. We have at least 30 elk that hang around this area, so you have a really good chance of seeing one.” And even if you don’t visit, you can enjoy views of Hatfield Knob via TWRA’s Elk Cam.
As we enjoyed the views, a retired couple joined us in the tower. Neil and Susan Kennedy lived 2.5 hours away. They had been to the tower more than 20 times, often making a day trip of it.
“We get fried chicken on the way and then have dinner here,” Susan Kennedy explains. “We like to be here for the sunset. We like to see the elk, and we almost always do see them. It’s just beautiful.”
They sit down to their fried chicken, and another elk steps out into the clearing. It’s a scene that could have taken place in the deep past. But in reality it’s a scene of a hopeful future, one where elk and other wildlife can roam restored and connected Appalachian forests.
Join the Discussion