Michael A. Sawyers
The Cumberland Times-News Fri Sep 02, 2011, 09:37 AM EDT
CUMBERLAND — The possibility that Rocky Mountain elk could be reintroduced into Garrett and Allegany counties has gotten the attention of many people, most of whom are taking a wait-and-see attitude.
A week ago, the Maryland Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced that a 12-month study would begin to determine whether or not elk could live in Western Maryland and whether or not residents there want the animals to be reintroduced.
Elk have been gone from Western Maryland’s landscape for more than 200 years.
Gary Fratz could be considered to have a multi-directional interest in a possible reintroduction. Fratz is a farmer near Accident in Garrett County as well as a citizen member of the Maryland Wildlife Advisory Commission that consults with DNR.
“I don’t have a problem with it if the elk won’t be really damaging to crops,” Fratz said. “We’ll have to see what the ag community thinks about it. We’re all in a learning process right now.”
Fratz grows soybeans, oats, pumpkins and sweet corn, all of which are dined upon by deer and bear.
“We’ve found ways to live with that,” Fratz said.
State Sen. George Edwards, a co-chairman of the state’s Legislative Sportsmen’s Foundation, said he is all for taking a look at the possibility.
“The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is paying for the study ($125,000), so let’s see what is says,” Edwards said Tuesday morning. “The hunters I’ve talked with would like to have elk. We’ll have to see what other local people think, especially the farmers.”
The dates of public meetings and surveys have yet to be established.
“It would be amazing to see an animal like that in Maryland,” said A.J. Fleming, president of the Garrett County chapter of Quality Deer Management Association. “Not everybody can afford to go out West to see or hunt elk,” Fleming said.
“But if the average white-tailed deer eats 1 ton of food a year, how much would a 700-pound bull elk eat?”
Fleming posed that question in regard to farm crops as well as competition with deer for available nutrition.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources has no plan to actively reintroduce elk, but is getting them anyway.
“We have elk in our southwestern counties that have crossed the border from Kentucky,” said DNR spokesman Paul Johansen. “And we have developed a plan to monitor and manage them.”
Johansen said elk, especially immediately after relocation, are very mobile and he would not be surprised if any animals put in Western Maryland would cross the North Branch of the Potomac River or the Preston County line.
“We are very appreciative that the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service has already coordinated with us,” Johansen said. “We trust the judgment of the Maryland biologists.”
Johansen said his main concern is crop damage and collisions with vehicles should elk enter West Virginia.
Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com
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