After trying and failing to add more elk to their eastern herd last year, officials from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are planning once again to release new elk onto the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area.

This time, it looks like they might succeed.

On Saturday at approximately 9 a.m. Central Time, TWRA officials hope to release 36 elk at Royal Blue WMA, which is located in Campbell County. The elk are being brought in from Land Between the Lakes (LBL), a Kentucky facility that belongs to the United States Forest Service.

Last year’s elk importation plan was scrapped when Tennessee officials could not obtain the necessary permits for bringing in elk from a captive facility in Canada. Disease was the major concern, especially chronic wasting disease.

I guess since these elk are already American citizens, the same disease concerns do not apply.

Royal Blue WMA is part of Tennessee’s 670,000-acre Elk Restoration Zone. The release location will be on Massengale Mountain where the first Tennessee elk were released in 2000.

TWRA officials say the plan is to load 36 elk onto four trailers Friday and haul them to the release site, where they will be held overnight and released the next morning.

The shipment will include 19 adult bulls, four male calves, nine adult cows and four female calves. Most of the elk will be fitted with radio collars, so researchers can follow their progress after release.

This will be the fifth time Tennessee officials have released elk in the state. Prior to this fifth release, 167 elk have been released between 2000-03. Currently, Tennessee has an estimated 200-250 free-roaming elk.

To say this is a TWRA project isn’t really fair. It’s actually a joint venture between the U.S. Forest Service, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Campbell Outdoor Recreation Association, the University of Tennessee Veterinary School, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Animal Plant Health Inspection School, Land Between the Lakes Bugle Corp, the Land Between the Lakes Association and TWRA staff and volunteers.

The public is invited to come out and witness the elk release.

But be warned, it’s a long, long drive over there from the Memphis area.

According to Mapquest, it’s more than six hours from my house to Royal Blue WMA.