Virginia Elk Restoration Project
Welcome to the Virginia Elk Restoration Project Booth!
Visit us to learn more about the Virginia Elk Restoration project in Grundy, Va. and to learn more about Southwest Virginia! Find out about your opportunity to see the elk during our fall and spring elk viewing tours and learn about our Elk Fest event planned in October 2023! The restoration project is a cooperative venture between the Southwest Virginia Sportsmen's Club, Southern Gap Outdoor Adventure, the Coalfields Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. In 2010, planning for the reintroduction of elk into Buchanan County, Va., started after an almost 100-year absence. Elk were historically found throughout eastern North America, including Virginia. However, factors such as habitat loss and unregulated hunting caused elk to become virtually extinct within eastern North America by the late 1800s. Working with the coal and gas industries on reclaimed surface sites in 2012, the elk population was reintroduced here and has thrived.