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« on: July 07, 2010, 03:00:00 PM » |
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JASPER - Elk management in the state is a broad topic that generates a lot of passion - especially to those Arkansans most affected by their presence in north Arkansas. In an effort to deal with elk problems in the Boxley Valley of Newton County, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will be holding a series of three meetings. The meetings are a result of feedback from nine public input workshops held in 2009.
The meetings will be held July 12 in Jasper at the Newton County Senior Center, July 13 in Harrison at the Quality Inn Conference Room and July 22 in Fayetteville at the U of A Cooperative Extension Service. All meetings begin at 6 p.m.
AGFC elk biologist Cory Gray says it became obvious from the public workshops held in Ponca that elk in Boxley Valley are continually causing extreme hardships for landowners. "People were telling us about such things as fence damage, depredation to gardens and fruit trees, grazing competition with livestock, and traffic hazards," Gray said. "Residents have asked us to explore methods of managing the Boxley Valley elk population, along with tourism. We want to get as much public feedback as possible," he added.
Elk populations once numbered in the millions and occupied habitats across most of North America. Shrinking habitat and overhunting reduced these large populations to a few persistent herds in the mountainous West. Had elk not been remarkably adaptable, they may have become extinct.
In 1981, the AGFC, in cooperation with private citizens, initiated another elk restoration project in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. Between 1981 and 1985, 112 elk from Colorado and Nebraska were released in Newton County.
The AGFC monitors the elk herd with the cooperation of the National Park Service. Through field observations, records on public comments and non-hunting mortalities and harvest data, the herd is estimated at about 450 animals. Arkansas's elk range covers approximately 315,000 acres with 85,000 acres in public ownership.
Interest in Arkansas elk increases each year. Not only in hunting these animals, but viewing them as well. More Arkansans visit the Buffalo River area each year to observe and photograph these magnificent animals, especially in late September and early October when elk are breeding. The herd will never be large compared to those in western states, but the elk provide an exceptional wildlife-viewing and hunting opportunity.
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"Any people, anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable and most sacred right - a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so many of the territory as they inhabit."-Abe Lincoln
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