August 18, 2016
RMEF Surpasses 10,000 Conservation Projects
MISSOULA, Mont.—An ongoing aspen restoration effort in Oregon’s South Warner Mountains marks the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s 10,000th lifetime conservation project.
“This is an incredible conservation milestone,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “It speaks volumes to the positive, beneficial impact the RMEF has on elk and elk country from coast to coast.”
Earlier this year, RMEF contributed $30,000 in grant funding to the Fremont-Winema National Forest as part of the seventh and final year of landscape aspen treatment in south-central Oregon where elk numbers are below objective. RMEF funded similar efforts in 2014 and 2015 to conserve and restore aspen stands and meadows in the same region. Also in 2016, RMEF awarded $20,000 in grant funding to begin a similar landscape-scale effort in the North Warner Mountains.
RMEF’s first habitat stewardship project was a 1986 prescribed burn in a place fittingly named Elk Creek on the Kootenai National Forest in northwest Montana. The backcountry burn encompassed more than 1,000 acres of prime elk habitat where shrubs had become overgrown or decadent.
“We are grateful to our many partners who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us in making meaningful conservation work a reality. We vow to accelerate our conservation mission of ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage,” added Allen.
To date, RMEF completed 10,198 lifetime conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects in 49 states that permanently protected or enhanced 6,883,479 acres of vital elk habitat.