The largest elk restoration program ever attempted in the eastern United States, and possibly the largest relocation of game animals in modern times, is taking place in eastern Kentucky. For the first time in 150 years, free ranging elk are present in the state. Two hundred elk will be released each year for the next nine years, with the possibility that in 20 years a herd of 8,300 elk could range over an area of 2.6 million acres. The initial release is in Breathitt, Knott, and Perry counties, on the 16,000-acre Cyprus Amax Wildlife Management Area and the 15,000-acre Robinson Forest, 20 minutes north of Hazard. Robinson Forest is a unique example of an old growth forest ecosystem on the Cumberland Plateau. A 10,000-acre block is a wildlife refuge. The only other elk in Kentucky are not free-ranging. They are in the Elk & Bison Prairie, a natural habitat at Land Between The Lakes in western Kentucky.