Elk will return to northeast Minnesota in 2026 as restoration plan moves forward

The sound of an elk bugle will return to the northeast Minnesota landscape in the coming years.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, in coordination with other Tribal entities, local governments, landowners, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and other stakeholders, are actively working on a Northeast Elk Restoration and Management Plan that aims to reintroduce elk into the Cloquet area in Spring 2026.

Elk, a member of the cervid family, was historically common throughout most of Minnesota, except the dense boreal forest region of the Arrowhead. Due to over-harvesting and habitat loss in the late 1800s and early 1900s, elk were nearly eradicated from the state. In the following decades, restoration efforts began with 27 elk released in the state’s northwest region near Grygla.

Historic, Current, and Proposed Elk Range | Graphic by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Now, in 2025, the DNR manages approximately 100 resident Minnesota elk in the northwest region of the state. In addition, an elk herd moves across the Minnesota-Canadian border and is managed and shared with Manitoba.

Starting in Spring 2026, about 10-20 elk from the northwest herds will be transported to acclimation areas on the Fond du Lac Band Reservation and then set free after the elk have had time to adjust. The Northeast Elk Restoration and Management Plan aims to transport 100-150 elk over a 5 to 10-year process.

“What past reintroduction studies have shown is that giving elk time to acclimate to an area and bond with each other, especially if you took elk from different herd, giving them some time to live together, really benefits the success of that reintroduction,” Makenzie Henk, the elk biologist with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, said.

In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature approved funding to support the reintroduction of elk to the Fond du Lac Band Reservation and the surrounding portions of the 1854 Ceded Territory. The Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa also retain treaty rights and cooperate in co-management the ceded territory. The 1854 Treaty Authority has been participating in restoration planning efforts in support of those Bands.

Henk said the elk reintroduction effort results from a nearly 10-year collaborative process the Fond du Lac Band has undergone to conduct an elk reintroduction feasibility study and compile public input. “It’s been a lot of moving pieces, but really, it’s been going very well.”

Although the landscape and livelihoods of individuals have significantly changed since elk once roamed the Minnesota landscape, Henk said the reintroduction of elk will benefit the ecology of the northeast region. “They helped to maintain healthy and diverse forests, and then they’re also an important prey species for wildlife like wolves and bears, both of which play an important cultural role for the Fond du Lac Band.”

In preparation for the upcoming reintroduction efforts and to address the potential spread of cervid diseases, the DNR has conducted chronic wasting disease (CWD) and bovine tuberculosis testing on elk in the northwest herd for the past 20 years.

“If we’re going to move elk, we want to make sure we’re talking them from a really healthy population,” Kelsie LaSharr, the elk coordinator with the Minnesota DNR, said.

Each year, as a management tool, the DNR allows a limited number of elk hunting licenses. LaSharr said every hunter who harvests an elk is required to test the elk for certain diseases. The focus in recent years, she said, has been on CWD and bovine tuberculosis.

“We have never found either chronic wasting disease or bovine tuberculosis in our wild elk here in Minnesota,” LaSharr said.

Once elk are reintroduced to the Fond du Lac Band Reservation and the surrounding area, the DNR will continue monitoring and testing through harvest or roadkill of the elk herds.

LaSharr said that as the Fond du Lac Band, the DNR, and the other stakeholders move forward with the reintroduction effort, there are numerous examples of other states across the U.S. reintroducing elk to the landscape. “We’re not doing this in a vacuum,” she said. “There are 11 eastern states that have had successful reintroductions.”

Some other states that have conducted elk reintroductions include Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. “So that has been really nice for us to be able to look at what has worked so that we can be working on this restoration to the best of our ability.“

LaSharr and Henk said if reintroduction efforts are successful and once northeast elk populations are stable and healthy, an elk hunting season may be implemented. “We may initiate an elk hunt, and really, all these different aspects of elk management will be something that we share as we’re co-stewards of this elk herd,” Henk said.

The DNR and Fond du Lac Band are hosting public information and input meetings in February. The public will be able to comment on the draft Northeast Elk Restoration and Management Plan before it is finalized. The following are public meeting opportunities:

• Attend an online public meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, from 6-8 p.m.  
• Attend the in-person public meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 6-8 p.m. at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Room 195, 2101 14th St., Cloquet, MN.
• Complete an online questionnaire on the DNR elk management webpage by Feb. 28.
• Submit comments via email to ne.elk.plan.dnr@state.mn.us by Feb. 28.

WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with Kelsie LaSharr, the Minnesota DNR elk coordinator, and with Makenzie Henk, an elk biologist with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The audio from the interviews is below.

Kalli Hawkins February 4, 2025