MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — As the elk herd in southern West Virginia grows, the Division of Natural Resources has partnered with West Virginia University to examine the genetics of the animals. Elk from the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) National Recreation Area in Cadiz, Kentucky and from the state of Arizona have been transferred into the steep hills of the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in Logan and Mingo Counties since 2016 to reestablish elk in the state.
So far, so good. But genetic diversity plays a key role in the success or failure of any reintroduction program.
“We’re trying to evaluate genetically how the reintroduction is going. They’re a great tool for conservation management, but they have a spotty history of some success and some failure,” said WVU Graduate Student Adam Cook who is handling the bulk of the analysis as part of his graduate work.
“Genetic diversity has really important implications about the future sustainability of these populations, When you lose diversity, you can get inbreeding, loss of fitness and population shrinking. So, conserving genetic diversity is an important factor in small populations”” he added.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources biologists have collected DNA samples from each of the animals released in southern West Virginia. Cook said the data will help trace the parental lineage of each animal. Although it’s early, Cook said there is anecdotal evidence the LBL elk and the Arizona elk have been breeding with each other, so it’s a good start. Such cross breeding will grow the genetic diversity of the herd. It’s also expected to eventually be further enhanced by the introduction of elk crossing over from eastern Kentucky’s herd to intermingle with the West Virginia animals.
“I’ve talked to folks with the DNR who anecdotally have seen elk they think are from Kentucky wandering into West Virginia, so we know that possibility is there,” Cook explained. “If at the end of this analysis we have offspring born in West Virginia, but we cannot identify their parent within the West Virginia population, then we will be able to assume the West Virginia and Kentucky elk are breeding.”
Such a cross has been the goal all along. The Arizona elk are Rocky Mountain lineage while the LBL elk trace their heritage to Manitoba in Canada. When Kentucky reintroduced elk almost two decades ago, they had contributing stock from six or seven states. Virginia now has its own herd as well. Biologist steering the program hope someday it will be the Appalachian Elk Herd living across all three states.
Cook’s research might also help to identity the best stock for future introduction. Brainworm has been one of of the hardest obstacles to overcome for the elk reintroduced in the Mountain State. Cook’s analysis might be able to identify a specific gene which is more resilient to the dreaded parasite than others.
“We take the information we have which is which elk have died from brainworm, then we can see variation in genetic markers which correlate and determine which chromosome is specific to potentially dying of brainworm. Then we can assign a genetic ‘risk score’ which will enable us to determine which elk are better for future reintroduction,” he said.
Although his description is oversimplified, it’s the kind of information and data the DNR hopes to gain from the work.
Cook said the goal is to be done by Spring 2025. He hopes to provide a base line analysis on whether there is anything generically threatening the population.