One of the largest land mammals in the world has a new $9.9M home in the NC mountains

North Carolina is home to one of the largest land mammals in the world — elk.

Now they have even more room to roam, with the opening of a $9.9 million, 2,030-acre habitat in the mountains of western North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) and first reported by The Asheville Citizen-TImes.

Elk are a species of deer that can grow up to 1,100 pounds and stand up to 5 feet at their shoulder, according to National Geographic. Males (bulls) sport huge racks of antlers, which can reach up to 4 feet above their heads, making some elk nearly 9 feet tall.

While the International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers elk to be a species “of least concern,” meaning it’s “at relatively low risk of extinction,” according to NatGeo. Elk were extinct in North Carolina for nearly 200 years because of overhunting until a recovery program reintroduced the giant deer in the mountains.

“Elk were once found across much of North America but they were killed off and driven to take refuge in more remote locations,” according to NatGeo. “Today they live primarily in western North America, especially in mountainous landscapes such as Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge and Yellowstone National Park. Some eastern U.S. states have reintroduced small elk herds into heavily wooded wilderness areas.”

Reintroduction began in 2001 in North Carolina. Years of effort and studies since then have paid off with a growing elk herd, according to the NCWRC.

“Basically, we went from 52 elk on the initial release to somewhere around 150 to 160 elk. In recent couple of years, we feel like the elk population has been stable,” North Carolina wildlife biologist Mike Carraway told WLOS earlier this year.

But those elk have begun to explore outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and have wandered into roads and munched on local crops and gardens, The Citizen-Times reported. The NCWRC has helped property owners install electric fences to try to deter the elk.

It is illegal to hunt elk in North Carolina, since there is no established elk hunting season, though the state has studied the possibility of allowing hunting in the future, as part of managing the population.

The recently opened William H. Silver game land in Haywood County borders the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was given to the NCWRC by Chapel Hill-based The Conservation Fund, which also acquired land for elk in West Virginia and participates in wildlife preservation across the country.

Elk breeding season begins in late summer, when bulls fight each other, antlers clashing, over choice of females (cows), according to NatGeo. Their loud mating calls are also known as “bugling” since the sound mimics the instrument.

Not only does the new game land create a new, expanded home for North Carolina’s elk, it will also be a tourism draw, officials said.

The game land was established “to provide much needed habitat for North Carolina’s growing elk population and other species, and to bring new economic development opportunities to Haywood County and surrounding counties,” The Conservation Fund wrote in a news release on Aug. 21.

Outdoor recreation generates $28 billion in revenue across North Carolina and is responsible for 260,000 jobs, according to Lynn Collins, Haywood County Tourism Development Authority director.

“$1.3 billion generated in state and local tax revenue for the state, and $8.3 billion is paid in wages and salaries,” Collins said.

The NCWRC and The Conservation Fund partnered to acquire nine properties adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to consolidate them into the William H. Silver game land for the elk. The game land “will also protect water quality for Maggie Valley and nearby communities, while increasing recreational opportunities—including hiking, wildlife viewing, and trout fishing—by connecting state and federally protected lands,” according to The Conservation Fund.

This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 9:02 PM with the headline "One of the largest land mammals in the world has a new $9.9M home in the NC mountains."