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NASCAR WCUP: Childress to Speak at Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Banquet

31 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
WELCOME, N.C. -- NASCAR championship team owner and outdoor conservationist Richard Childress will be the keynote speaker Sept. 30 at the annual banquet of the Piedmont chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

The event, to be held at the Koury Convention Center of the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons, is a fund-raiser for the preservation of habitat for elk and other wildlife. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is an organization of conservationists, hunters, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, with 560 chapters throughout the United States. Childress and the foundation are making an effort to reintroduce elk to North Carolina after more than 100 years.

"Areas of North Carolina are a natural habitat for elk," said Childress, who has been involved in a number of other conservation efforts in North Carolina and Montana. "Unfortunately, conservation was not an issue 200 years ago and the population disappeared from the area. I want to be a part of reintroducing elk to North Carolina so my grandkids and future generations can go to the Smoky Mountains and hear them bugle."

Elk were present in the mountains of North Carolina until the late 1700's and elk antlers were found in the Black Mountains in Western NC through the early 1800's. For the past six years the Great Smoky Mountain National Park has been laying the groundwork to experimentally release elk on part of it's 521,000 acres. The five-year study would help researchers determine the viability of having elk roam our mountains again. Plans are to release 75 elk from either Elk Island National Park, Alberta, Canada, or the U.S. Forest Service "Land Between the Lakes" in Kentucky. Both herds are extremely healthy and have been strictly monitored as to disease for many years.

Recently, the general public, when given the opportunity to comment on the proposed release, responded overwhelmingly in favor with only 4 negative comments out of 2,800. Upon approval from the National Park Service Regional Managers, elk could be back in the park as early as this winter!

"All of us, whether we are hunters, anglers, or outdoor enthusiasts, have a responsibility to give back to nature," said Greg Johns, Public Relations Chair for the Piedmont Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "We should be more concerned with what we give rather than what we take. The Elk project currently proposed for the Somkies is just one more step in the right direction." For tickets or information, call Greg at 336-294-2301 ext. 305.

The evening will consist of a dinner, live and silent auctions, raffles, door prizes and comments from Childress, as well as Kim Delozier, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist overseeing the Smoky Mountains Elk Project. Items for auction, raffle and door prizes include a New Mexico elk hunt, a Florida tarpon fishing expedition, plus limited edition prints, bronzes, and lots of interesting and unique items for the home and the outdoors.

Richard Childress Racing Enterprises, Inc., has set the standard for modern-era stock car racing teams. Based just south of Winston-Salem in Welcome, N.C., RCR has nearly 200 employees and fields the NASCAR Winston Cup teams of seven-time champion and 1998 Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt, and 1997 Rookie-of-the-Year and 1995 Truck Series champion Mike Skinner, as well as NASCAR Busch Series teams with drivers Mike Dillon and Kevin Harvick. Childress was presented in 1994 with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest award given to a citizen of North Carolina, by Governor James Hunt.

Text provided by David Hart

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