GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
EMPORIUM (Cameron Co.>-
It depends on which side of the
fence you’re on. Some people
like to hunt or view large majes
tic elk here in Pennsylvania.
Others like the idea of being able
to sell a full field of corn or hay
or vegetables, not one half-eaten
or trampled by elk. To the elk,
there is no fence. They simply
want to eat.
The pesky problem of elk
damage for farmers began in
1913. Now, nearly 90 years later,
the problem still exists. It’s cur
rently a hot issue in Cameron
and Elk counties, where more
than 100 people met in Empo
rium in October 1999 to vent
some steam on the issue.
Farmers, business owners,
Chamber of Commerce leaders,
and Game Commission officials
met to address the idea of estab
lishing an elk viewing area for
tourists.
Ironically, a similarly heated
meeting took place in Empo
rium in October 1970 when the
Cameron County Soil and
Water Conservation District
and the North Central Pennsyl
vania Economic Development
District proposed a 10,000-acre
elk management and tourism
site in Elk and Cameron coun
ties.
After 90 years of such meet
ings, there are only a few conclu
sions that both sides of the fence
can agree on - as long as elk and
agriculture exist in proximity,
the problem won’t go away, and
on one blames the elk. They’re
just doing what animals in the
wild do.
The idea of reintroducing elk
into the commonwealth in the
early 1900 s might have cropped
up because of guilty conscience.
Or perhaps man just wanted
something bigger to hunt. What
ever the reason, elk had become
completely ‘exterminated’ from
the state by 1877.
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Elk Problem Still Eats Away At Farmers
By 1910, Pennsylvanians
began to realize with horror
what they’d done. Gone were
Pennsylvania’s impressive buf
falo herds, stately elk herds,
fearsome eastern mountain
lions, and packs of wolves.
About this same time, during
the winters from 1910 to 1912,
enormous herds of elk were
starving to death in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming. The federal
government decided to alleviate
this problem by shipping and re
stocking elk in other parts of the
country.
In 1913, according to ‘Mam
mals of Pennsylvania,’ pub
lished by the Pennsylvania
Game Commission, Pennsylva
nia received its first shipment of
elk - 50 elk at $3O per head from
Yellowstone National Park.
Twenty-two elk from a private
preserve in Monroe County were
also released at that time. Ac
cording to Game Commission
records, 12 were released into
Monroe County, 10 in Centre
County, 25 in Clearfield
County, and 25 in Clinton
County.
The crop damage complaints
started immediately, and in
1914, the first elk (five of them)
were shot illegally. Property
damage complaints also in
creased, prompting the Game
Commissioner’s Executive Di
rector Dr. Joseph Kalbfus to
say, “It seems to me that it
would be well to wait a few years
at least before releasing any
more of these animals in the
commonwealth.” The commis
sioners listened for a few years,
then released 95 more elk in
1915.
By 1923, game officials insti
tuted the first open elk season
from December 1 to the 15.
Open season hunts for bulls with
four points or more were held
until 1931.
According to ‘The Pennsylva
nia Game Commission: 100
years of Wildlife Conservation’
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became a commissioner in 1905
and talked about visiting a
Centre County cornfield dam
aged by elk. “When farmers
complained, we went into
Centre County and found where
a band of elk had been raiding a
cornfield at night and had de
stroyed every ear in the field by
biting about two inches off the
end. They seemed to like the
silk.”
During this time, the elk
herds increased, as did the ille
gal harvesting by poachers and
farmers. Game Commission of
ficials refused to arrest farmers
for killing elk for crop damage.
They believed farmers should be
compensated for their losses and
took a legislative route that
failed because, according to the
Game Commission publication,
“the legislature believed the
farmers and fruit growers would
submit “exaggerated claims”
and the Game Commission
would be unable to prove other-
wise.”
By the end of the 19205, a
rough estimate of only 200 elk
roamed in only Cameron and
Elk counties, and the Game
Commission publication states
that “elk in all other release
areas were gone, taken by hunt
ers, farmers, or poachers. The
commission soon decided the elk
weren’t worth the trouble they’d
caused and were not compatible
with other land uses.” The com
mission paid little attention to
the elk until the 1970 meeting in
Emporium in which the Game
Commission’s Executive Direc
tor, Glenn Bowers, said, “A
person who suffers elk damage
has every right, morally and le
gally, to kill an elk.”
Within a matter of days,
farmers, who once thought they
couldn’t legally shoot elk tor
crop damage, began shooting
elk. Penn State conducted the
first elk census in 1971 and
found only 65 animals. A
brainworm epidemic took more
elk. The 1974 census estimated
only 38 animals. In 1976, the
Game Commission imple
mented a plan, along with the
Bureau of Forestry, to plant
grasses and other nonwoody
plants to attract elk to areas
cleared by timbering. Herd num
bers began to increase with a
1981 herd estimate of 135 elk.
In 1982 the Game Commis
sion decided to hold a lottery for
elk hunters. Its goal was to cut
the herd’s numbers in half over
several years, but the need for a
hunt died when a total of 35 ani
mals died that year from all
causes - natural, illegal or crop
damage. Techniques to track elk
improved and officials began to
better learn the elk’s territory
range and choices of food and
habitat, and the agency began to
consider purchasing certain
lands in elk territory. From a
herd average of 150 in 1980 s, the
herd increased to roughly 224 in
1993, possibly because of better
census methods.
In 1990, the Rocky Mountain
Elk Foundation contributed
$38,000 toward purchasing
1,660-acres of state game lands
in Winslow Hill, Elk County. It
contributed $92,000 more over
the following years for elk man
agement, including the purchase
of 70,000 feet of six-strand elec
tric fence for around fields and
pastures on five different prop
erties.
But even with these efforts,
the elk remain a huge problem
for farmers. With planting time
approaching, farmers Jeff and
LuAnn Reed of Emporium ex
pressed their concerns. “We
have a big problem with elk,”
said LuAnn Reed.
“They opened up our round
bales with the white wrappers
on them and destroyed our
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 8, 2000-A33
neighbor’s fruit trees. They’re
just like a cow, only much worse.
Their body weight is heavier and
they just mow down a field. This
is my property, and I don’t need
to feed them. The Game Com
mission keeps moving the elk
and into bigger farming areas.
They’ve been seen in the Jersey
Shore area where Doebler’s has
its corn lots. It’s just a matter of
time.”
The heated debate and name
slinging has entered the local
newspapers and opinion col
umns. The Game Commission,
according to newspaper reports,
wants to expand the 566-elk
herds’ territory and increase the
herd to re-establish elk hunts
again. Farmers want to protect
their crops, income, and prop
erty rights and often come under
fire for this, as in the case of
Adam Waltz, a farmer who
plants 15 acres of vegetables
along the Susquehanna River.
Waltz has shot nine elk for dam
aging his vegetables, six in one
week. He tried other measures
first. Any elk shot for crop
damage must be reported to the
Game Commission within 24
hours in order to save the meat
for families in need. Waltz’s elk
problems intensified when the
Game Commission released 33
elk just three miles from his
property as part of its trap-and
transfer program that started in
1996.
Pennsylvania Game Commis
sion Press Secretary Jerry
Feaser, in a letter to the Editor
of the Cameron County Echo,
noted, “Bottom line; we can re
solve this situation if the finger
pointing stops and we all work
together.”
But 90 years is a long time to
find a solution. 1
y
V
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