West Virginia
West Virginia will receive more elk from federal facility in Kentucky; worker injured in process – WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – West Virginia’s elk herd will get another boost of imported animals. Governor Jim Justice announced during his State of the State Address the state is in the process of bringing another group of elk from the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area near Cadiz, Kentucky to the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area in southern West Virginia.
“We’ve got 40 more elk on the way to West Virginia,” Justice said during Wednesday’s State of the State Address.
But Justice also announced a DNR worker had been injured in the process.
MetroNews was able to confirm the details Wednesday night.
At around noon Wednesday the DNR worker was getting into a truck at the Lakes Recreational Area when a gas-powered tranquilizer gun with a double safety device failed and it discharged into him. He was not holding the gun at the time, officials said.
DNR officials on the scene administered NARCAN and called for an ambulance. The worker was flown to a hospital in Nashville, Tenn. where he was still in ICU as of Wednesday night.
Justice said he was told the worker was going to be okay.
The worker’s name has not been released.
Elk plans
The new group of elk will mark the third time West Virginia has received elk from the U.S. Forest Service facility. The original reintroduction included 24 animals from L-B-L in 2016. The state received another 18 animals in 2018. West Virginia also received a large shipment of elk from the state of Arizona after the first two transfers from the federal facility in western Kentucky.
West Virginia Division of Natural Resources officials expect to received 40 elk in the latest transfer, half of which are expected to be females and half of those females are expected to already be bred.
West Virginia Elk Project Leader Randy Kelley expected the transfer to provide a much needed boost to the slowly growing population of elk in the southern West Virginia coalfields.
“We’re to the point now where we have more home grown elk than we have imported elk, which is why we’re so young from a population dynamics standpoint. That’s just the natural order of things,” said Kelley.
A number of the original elk reintroduced into West Virginia since 2016 have died from a variety of different natural occurrences. Brain worm claimed a number of the elk. Among the Arizona additions to the herd, many died waiting to be released in a mandatory federal quarantine during the hottest months of summer. That’s not expected to be an issue with the current transfer.
Relationships between the federal and state agencies are vastly improved, and the elk from L-B-L are considered a different situation.
Since the Arizona elk were from a free ranging herd, the stipulations were different. The Land Between the Lakes facility is considered, by regulation, a “captive cervid facility.” The animals there are regularly tested for bovine tuberculosis. The testing and quarantine requirements for transport are far less stringent under the captive circumstances.
The elk, which will eventually be released in Logan County, have already been rounded up, tested for TB, and are awaiting clearance of negative tests to be transported to West Virginia. They’ll be released in a “soft release” at the release facility on the Tomblin Wildlife Management Area.
The LBL facility is run by the U.S. Forest Service which is a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to Kelley, although by regulation a captive cervid facility, the elk have blood lines which trace to a wild population.
“They’re from a wild herd at Elk Island in Alberta, Canada. They’re not an inherent farm raised elk. The blood line is pure to wild elk in Canada,” Kelley explained.
Other states have used animals from the Land Between the Lakes facility to start elk reintroductions in other parts of the United States. The facility also supplied the original elk released by the National Park Service in the Great Smokey Mountains.
Kelley said it was unlikely West Virginia would be able to get another round of elk from the wild herd in Arizona. Since their transport to the Mountain State, regulations with regard to CWD and transporting wild cervids have changed dramatically.
“I doubt we’ll be able to do that again until we have a live animal test for CWD,” he said.
Several states and universities are involved in various research projects trying to find a reliable test for the virus. So far, the only known reliable test requires the animal to be dead.
Kelley, in an address to state lawmakers during December interim meetings, indicated the state has roughly 100 to 110 elk on the ground. When quizzed about the possibility of when a controlled hunt for elk could be allowed, he indicated other states which have had successful reintroductions have not opened up a season until the herd reached 200 to 300 animals. He expected that to be the benchmark for West Virginia to begin consideration of a hunting season as well.
Teams from the West Virginia DNR will collaborate with officials from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and volunteers from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to transport the elk from western Kentucky to West Virginia in the coming days.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The following events happened on these dates in West Virginia history, compiled by the West Virginia Humanities Council from its online encyclopedia, e-WV.
April 19, 1896: Writer Melville Davisson Post was born in Harrison County. His best-known works are the Randolph Mason series, published in three volumes, and the more successful collection Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries.
April 19, 1902: Author Jean Lee Latham was born in Buckhannon. She wrote a number of children’s books, including Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, which won the 1956 Newbery Award.
April 20, 1823: Gen. Jesse Lee Reno was born in Wheeling. He graduated from West Point in 1846 with another cadet from western Virginia, Thomas J. Jackson, later known as “Stonewall.” Reno was the highest-ranking officer from present West Virginia killed in the Civil War.
April 20, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that in 60 days, West Virginia would become a state. The occasion was marked 100 years later during the state’s Centennial celebration with a special ceremonial session of the West Virginia Legislature on April 20, 1963, in Wheeling.
April 20, 1909: Fiddler Melvin Wine was born near Burnsville in Braxton County. A favorite of old-time music enthusiasts nationally, he was chosen as a National Heritage Fellow in 1991 by the National Endowment for the Arts — the highest recognition given to a folk artist in the United States.
April 20, 1939: Poet Irene McKinney was born in Belington, Barbour County. Gov. Gaston Caperton appointed her state poet laureate in 1993, and she served in that capacity until her death in 2012.
April 21, 1908: Musician Phoeba Cottrell Parsons was born in Calhoun County. Parsons’ traditional clawhammer banjo style, unaccompanied ballad singing, riddles and storytelling have influenced countless younger musicians.
April 21, 1936: President Franklin Roosevelt established the Jefferson National Forest. The West Virginia portion of the forest includes about 19,000 acres in Monroe County.
April 22, 1908: Marshall “Little Sleepy” Glenn was born in Elkins. Glenn coached basketball at West Virginia University from 1934 to 1938 and football from 1937 to 1940. He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.
April 22, 1948: Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and musician Larry Groce was born in Dallas, Texas. He is best known as the longtime host and artistic director of the Mountain Stage radio program.
April 22, 2003: Activist Judy Bonds, a Raleigh County native, received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her fight against mountaintop removal mining. Her efforts inspired thousands and turned a local West Virginia issue into a national cause.
April 23, 1857: Andrew S. Rowan was born in Gap Mills, Monroe County. Rowan, a military officer, was chosen as the messenger when President William McKinley wanted to send a message to Cuban Gen. Calixto Garcia during the Spanish-American War. The 1899 pamphlet A Message to Garcia made the incident famous.
April 24, 1865: McNeill’s Rangers surrendered to Union troops at New Creek — now Keyser. The Confederate guerrilla force probably never numbered more than 100 men at any time but managed to inflict regular damage on Union operations.
April 25, 1863: In what became known as the Jones-Imboden Raid, about 1,500 Confederate soldiers under Gen. William “Grumble” Jones advanced through Greenland Gap, a deep pass through New Creek Mountain in present Grant County. The Confederates encountered 87 Union soldiers who held off several assaults before finally surrendering.
April 25, 1923: Union leader Arnold Ray Miller was born at Leewood on Cabin Creek in Kanawha County. In December 1972, he defeated Tony Boyle to become president of the United Mine Workers and served until 1979.
e-WV is a project of the West Virginia Humanities Council. For more information, contact the council at 1310 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston, WV 25301, call 304-346-8500 or visit wvencyclopedia.org.
During the Gold-Blue spring game on Saturday, the West Virginia coaching staff named wide receiver Cyrus Traught the recipient of the 2026 Tommy Nikolich Award.
The award, which is always given out at the end of spring ball, recognizes a walk-on team member who has distinguished himself through his attitude and work ethic. The award is presented in memory of Tommy Nickolich, a former WVU player (1980-82) who passed away from cancer in 1983.
Traugh is a Parkersburg native and graduate of Parkersburg South High School. He began his career at Youngstown State before transferring back home to play for the Mountaineers last season. In his final year with the Penguins, he logged 36 receptions, 409 yards, and a team-leading five touchdowns, two of which came against Pitt.
During the 2025 campaign with the Mountaineers, he saw action against Robert Morris and Kansas, playing 10 snaps against the Jayhawks, but did not record any stats.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez has mentioned him twice this spring as someone who has been doing some good things and making progress. Wide receivers coach Ryan Garrett also showed him some love during his press conference last week.
The Mountaineers completely revamped the wide receiver room this offseason, upping the level of talent at both inside and outside receiver spots, but perhaps Traugh can work his way into the mix if he puts together a strong summer and fall camp. If he’s not a regular in the rotation, he’ll serve as a quality depth piece who can play special teams.
Past Nickolich Award winners:
2025: Clay Ash, RB
2024: Avery Wilcox, S
2023: C.J. Cole, WR
2022: Nick Malone, OL
2021: Graeson Malashevich, WR/H
2020: Osman Kamara, S
2019: Jake Abbott, LB
2018: Evan Staley, K
2017: Nick Meadows, LS
2016: Jon Lewis, DL
2015: Justin Arndt, LB
2014: Michael Calicchio, OL
2013: Connor Arlia, WR
2012: Tyler Anderson, DE
2011: Ryan Nehlen, WR
2010: Matt Lindamood, FB
2009: Josh Taylor, DL
2008: Adam Hughes, LS
2007: Andy Emery, LB
2006: Tim Lindsey, LS
2005: George Shehl, H/DB
2004: Jeff Noechel, LB
2003: John Pennington, WR
2002: Moe Fofana, RB
2001: Jeremy Knapp, TE
2000: Ben Collins, LB
1999: Bryan Lorenz, LB
1998: Mark Corman, TE
1997: David Lightcap, DB
1996: Matt Ceresa, OL
1995: Rob Keys, DB
1994: Randy Fulmore, DB
1993: Matt McCulty, WR
1992: Brett Parise, WR, Ray Wilcox, LB
1991: Keith Taparausky, RB
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