Fond du Lac Band hopes to start elk herd here

Elk could soon be roaming Carlton County again, as a result of a longtime effort by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Last week, the Band submitted a proposal to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to expand the state's elk numbers and range by moving 100-150 elk from existing herds in northwest Minnesota to the area of the Fond du Lac Reservation and Fond du Lac State Forest in Carlton and southern St. Louis counties.

Elk are native to Minnesota, with historic numbers once estimated in the thousands and whose range encompassed most of the state, even as recently as the...