Montana In July 2006, the Bundy Bridge Fire burned more than 90,000 acres of public and private land 20 miles north of Pompey’s Pillar. To restore elk habitat and stabilize the headwaters of critical drainages, Elk Foundation volunteers helped plant 3,750 shrub seedlings of six different native species across 250 acres. Project managers returned to survey the site four months later to find a heartening 86 percent of the seedlings had taken root.

Colorado
Years of suppressing wildfire have diminished habitat quality on public lands surrounding the Monte Vista National Refuge in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. To rejuvenate critical elk winter range on Greenie Mountain, the Elk Foundation helped fund mechanical mulching of 410 acres of densely overgrown stands of pinyon-juniper and decadent mountain mahogany using a hydro-axe, which knocks down brush and trees and chops up the slash. This work should stimulate grasses as well as lush regeneration of mountain mahogany. It is the second stage of a five-year project in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and Colorado Division of Wildlife to treat 10,000 acres of winter range adjacent to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.

Idaho
To increase wildlife security and improve habitat quality for elk across 7,000 acres, the Elk Foundation helped reclaim and seed 21 miles of non-essential and undesignated roads and trails near Montpelier. The project included reopening an old logging road so a stream-bottom route that was damaging key fish habitat could be closed. Managers hope this will increase forage productivity and enhance water quality for Bonneville cutthroat trout, as well as boost habitat security so more bull elk might live beyond their second hunting season

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	Arizona To knock back encroachment of small trees and rejuvenate native grasses and forbs, the Elk Foundation joined the Apache‑Sitgreaves National Forest to fund a 1,900-acre prescribed burn on habitat for elk, bighorn sheep and turkeys near Springerville. This project should also reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

Michigan
The Elk Foundation provided $10,000 to defray the costs of mowing and fertilizing 150 acres of forage openings on the Pigeon River Country State Forest and in the Lee Grande Ranch area to improve elk summer and fall range. Project managers also planted 22 acres in buckwheat. Maintaining a variety of forest openings on state lands within Michigan’s elk range helps reduce crop damage and other conflicts on adjoining private land.

Montana
On winter range for 350 elk near Helena, the Elk Foundation helped fund renovation of two miles of out-dated, five-strand fence, replacing it with wildlife-friendly fence on private land and installing five fence gates at historic elk crossing points to be left open when livestock are not present. The project will provide easier travel for wildlife, cut down on fence damage and allow better control of livestock grazing both on Forest Service and private lands.

North Dakota
The south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park contains more than 46,000 acres of complex vegetation types that support elk, horses, mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorn and bison. To manage the numbers of elk within its borders, the Park Service has in the past rounded up animals and shipped them to other locations to aid restoration efforts. Chronic wasting disease has never been found in North Dakota, but fears of spreading it have quashed exporting any ungulates out of the park since 2002. The elk herd has since doubled, and continues to grow. To better understand their impact on plant communities within the park, researchers have established 73 vegetation monitoring sites both inside and outside the park boundaries. The Elk Foundation is helping fund this effort to decide how best to manage wildlife without putting the plant community at risk.

Oregon
In the Willamette National Forest of west-central Oregon, corridors for Bonneville Power Administration powerlines provide some of the best available habitat for wintering Roosevelt’s elk. They also provide vital habitat to ruffed grouse, quail and neo-tropical birds. Yet these same areas are being overtaken by non-native noxious weeds such as Scotch broom and Himalayan blackberry. To help combat this, the Elk Foundation helped fund a project to create 30 acres of new meadows below the powerlines by treating for noxious weeds, fertilizing and seeding with a grass/legume forage mix to increase preferred forage species.

South Carolina
At the Clemson University Wildlife Management Area, the Elk Foundation joined the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to sponsor hunts for youths, ages 12 through 16, and for people who are mobility impaired.

Texas
Last September the Elk Foundation helped fund a S.A.F.E.T.Y. (Shooting Archery, Field Excellency Trials for Youth) event near the town of Mingus. This free event reaches 1,700 students ages 12 through 18 each school semester. Students are given hands-on, one-on-one instruction in shotgun, pistol, archery, muzzleloader, rifle and a “shoot/don’t shoot” field exercise.

Virginia
To promote conservation education and get youths more involved in shooting sports, the Elk Foundation helped the Skyline Council Ladies’ Archery Program purchase necessary supplies and equipment to update this statewide program. The Elk Foundation also donated money to support the Boy Scouts shooting education program in Augusta County, as well as Operation OUTDOORS, a program in Smyth County giving 2nd through 6th grade boys a chance to learn archery, rifle shooting and the basics of fishing. The program is for youngsters who do not have a strong male role model in their lives, and aims to provide mentors and youths a chance to bond in an outdoor environment, nurturing and developing a relationship with the outdoors.

Wyoming
In an area that 1,500 elk depend on east of Yellowstone National Park, noxious weeds such as leafy spurge have begun to take root. To help combat the invasion, the Elk Foundation is helping fund treatment of upwards of 1,500 acres on Dead Indian Creek, Lake Creek, Bald Ridge, the Sunlight Basin Wildlife Management Area and the lower Clark Fork area. Project managers sprayed nearly 1,350 acres with herbicides and treated 160 acres through hand-pulling or releasing weed-eating beetles. To help make the public aware of how people often unintentionally spread weeds, project managers and volunteers also dispensed pamphlets on noxious weeds.