268 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Careful estimates made by the Forest Service officers in the 

 spring of 1911 show a total of about 2,100." Since Gary's 

 report in 1911, the herds seem to have been built up very 

 greatly, for the U. S. Biological Survey in its census published 

 in 1939 gave an estimated total of 23,000 elk for Colorado. 



At the present time, owing to adequate protection in recent 

 decades, the elk herds of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana 

 have increased to such large proportions that they are no 

 longer in danger. The chief centers of abundance are in such 

 national parks as the Yellowstone, where formerly hundreds 

 were slaughtered by hunters; another famous place is the 

 Jackson Hole region, Wyoming, a regular wintering area for 

 elk coming down off the surrounding mountains where they 

 spend the summers. In Glacier Park, Montana, there are 

 smaller numbers, but these are apparently increasing. One 

 difficulty in maintaining elk in large preserves is, as Bailey 

 points out, the problem of providing upland mountainous 

 areas for their summer range and suitable lowland places 

 where food is available for wintering them. The 1939 wildlife 

 census provides the following figures for elk populations in the 

 Rocky Mountain States, from south to north: New Mexico, 

 5,000; Colorado, 23,000; Utah, 3,800; Wyoming, 40,700; 

 Idaho, 24,400; Montana, 26,700; Nevada, about 200. 



In addition to these there are a good many elk in other 

 States that have been introduced from the Rocky Mountain 

 area. Some of these are living under fence, and others may be 

 free. Thus the report above quoted gives the following: 

 Arizona, 4,400; California (in several places in the northern 

 part); Michigan, 5; Nebraska, 31; New Hampshire, 250; New 

 York, 100; Oklahoma, 230; South Dakota, 3,400; Texas, 350; 

 Virginia, 140. The Rocky Mountain elk is obviously in no 

 present danger. The feasibility of restoring elk to regions 

 from which they have been extirpated is evident from the 

 following quotations (gathered by Dr. Francis Harper). Ac- 

 cording to Barker (1936, p. 177), in New Mexico, "elk, com- 

 pletely exterminated about 1900, have been restored so that 

 we now have about 5,000 animals." "Prior to 1912, elk had 

 disappeared from the ranges of the State of Utah. Since 1912 

 there have been planted within our State, a few at a time, 

 193 head in seven different areas. These plantings were made 

 during the period from 1912 to 1925, and the elk were imported 



