Two wolves seen last year scouting out north-central California are the parents of at least three pups born this spring. In early May, U.S. Forest Service biologists found new evidence of wolves in Lassen National Forest. California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) biologists responded by surveying the area to locate and trap at least one wolf. They narrowed in on a likely location and twelve days of attempted trapping later, they successfully captured a 75 pound female wolf on June 30th. After examining her and collecting genetic and other biological samples, she was fitted with a tracking collar and released.
“The anesthesia and collaring process went smoothly and the wolf was in excellent condition,” said CDFW’s Senior Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Deana Clifford. “Furthermore, our physical examination indicated that she had given birth to pups this spring.”
When biologists returned the next day, July 1st, for a routine follow-up visit, they found tracks of at least three pups and a USFS trail camera with photos of mama and three pups from June 29-30th.
The three pups at about two months old playing on June 30th while mama was the “guest” of CDFW.
Named the Lassen Pack for their territory (which was named for Danish settler Peter Lassen), they are the second wolf pack in California. Their tracks show western Lassen County as their activity center, but tracks have also been seen to the east in Plumas County. The first wolves to enter the state and remain, now called the Shasta Pack, moved here in 2015 and had five pups. Their status is unknown, but one of the pups left signs of his presence in northwestern Nevada just west of Black Rock Desert (home to Burning Man) in November 2016. Except for this sighting, the Shasta Pack (also named for their territory in Shasta County) hasn’t been seen since May 2016, generating rumors that they were secretly killed.
In January 2017, the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the California Cattlemen’s Association and California Farm Bureau Federation filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s Endangered Species Act listing of wolves so that wolves may be killed. The Center for Biological Diversity and other groups are opposing what they call “this baseless legal challenge.”
Northern California counties: Shasta is the second county in the middle top (beige) with Lassen to its east (grey) and Plumas below on the east border (dark green). The Shasta pup’s signs in Nevada were east of northern Lassen County.
A different individual wolf was detected in Siskiyou County this winter. Samples found and examined for DNA showed this wolf was born in 2014 and is a daughter from Oregon’s Rogue pack. This makes her the sister of Lassen Pack’s male, who was identified as an offspring of OR-7 by scat sample analysis last year.
OR-7 — traveler, patriarch and grandpa (photo by Oregon DFW)
The Rogue Pack’s oldest male is the famous OR-7 who was the first wolf to enter California in almost 100 years when he roamed around in 2011 and 2012. He then returned to Oregon to mate and raise a family.
A second pack in Northern California is an unplanned conservation success although not everyone is pleased. Extirpated from the state in the 1920’s, the wolves were not purposefully re-introduced, they naturally dispersed here from Oregon. CDFW developed a Gray Wolf Management Plan, listed the species as Endangered in the state, and conducted workshops with ranchers and other stakeholders living in potential wolf territory.
In late June at the same time CDFW was trapping the female in Lassen County, a Wolf-Livestock Coexistence Workshop was offered by the Shasta County Department of Agriculture, USDA Wildlife Services, and Defenders of Wildlife. The workshop was held in Hat Creek, a tiny town in Shasta County midway between Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. The Wolves in California blog reported that about 65 people attended.
The atmosphere in the Hat Creek Fire Hall was tense, though polite, as the livestock owners and wolf advocates quickly separated out into separate groups. A glance at the footwear of those attending was enough to tell which side of the issue they stood on; cowboy boots=rancher, hiking boots or sandals=wolf advocate. We were like two rival wolf packs meeting on neutral ground, neither looking to start violence, but nigher [sic] looking to back down. Instead, we sized each other up from our respective corners. My group was the decidedly smaller one.
Lassen Pack pup on June 30, 2017
As usual, the workshop began with presentations on the history of wolves in California and an update on the wolves known to be in the state, including the Lassen pair (the pups hadn’t been reported yet).
After the update, Wildlife Services gave a talk on preserving carcasses and other evidence in the event of a possible depredation, and options for removing attractants to help prevent wolves from wanting to come onto ranches and into proximity with livestock in the first place.
At the Q&A session, two or three speakers got heated, mostly those who wanted to know the exact locations of the wolves (for what reasons you can guess) and those who wanted to test the limits of “can we shoot it?”
Finally, Matt Barnes from People and Carnivores, an organization that “works with ranchers, hunters and outfitters, rural residents, land managers, and scientists to keep grizzlies, wolves, and other carnivores in the wild and out of trouble,” discussed how to minimize wolf-livestock interactions. Reports of similar workshops over the last year say participants agree on one point: that wolf presence doesn’t result in livestock deaths. How this is achieved, however, lacks consensus.
The two general means by which wolf predation on livestock can be prevented are to eliminate wolves (been there done that a century ago) or to modify livestock management practices using proven techniques that minimize livestock/wolf conflicts (progressive livestock management). Despite skepticism and opposition to changing their management practices, ranchers can share the land with predators such as wolves to the benefit of the land and wildlife.
In June, the California Wolf Center formally endorsed the beef from a California ranch for the first time.
Packages of California Wolf Center Endorsed Beef from Mt Shasta Wild ranch are sold at farmers’ markets right now and online at the ranch’s website. The Center intends to increase the number of places where this beef can be purchased and expand the number of participating livestock producers. (H/T to Lynn47 for the online purchase info.)
Mt. Shasta Wild is one of the first Northern California livestock producers to participate in the Working Circle Proactive Stewardship program, founded by California Wolf Center in 2016.
The Working Circle Proactive Stewardship (WCPS) is a scientifically based, socially acceptable approach to wolf-livestock conflict that provides real and practical solutions. The goal is to empower ranchers to manage the issue themselves without continued reliance on, or undue interference from, outside groups or government agencies.
As part of the WCPS program, Mt. Shasta Wild employs an inaugural Range Steward™ on their grazing area sponsored by the California Wolf Center. Range Stewards™ are comprehensively trained “range riders” with an in-depth understanding of progressive stockmanship and grazing practices, livestock husbandry, the diverse local landscapes, wolf biology and ecology, prey travel and behavior, and wildlife tracking. This holistic approach of range stewardship, not only provides a critical interface between livestock and predators, but through low-stress stockmanship, husbandry, and natural predator defense practices, the Stewards set up a scenario for significantly reducing vulnerability in cattle even without the continued presence of humans.
Accepting wolves as important members of the ecosystem requires that ranchers and other human residents be willing to co-exist: to move beyond myths and fears and learn how to minimize conflicts. Wolves moving into Northern California indicates healthy habitat. When they stay and raise a family, wolves benefit ecosystems by keeping herbivore populations (e.g., deer and elk) in check. And this, in turn, contributes to the health of forests, streams, fisheries and other wildlife.
It was human fear of the wild that killed off the wolves in the early 1900’s. We’ve learned a lot since then. It’s time livestock owners acted on this knowledge and adopted progressive stockmanship and grazing practices. It’s time we learned how to live alongside wildlife.
Lassen Pack matriarch leads two of her pups the day before she was trapped and collared.
For more information on wolves in California and livestock management practices that help reduce the likelihood of livestock predation, see my previous stories.
- November 3, 2016. New ecosystem managers, a grey wolf pair, confirmed in Lassen County, CA, reports on the first sightings of the founding members of the Lassen Pack.
- July 28, 2016. A timeline of wolves reintroducing themselves to California in photos explains why they are coming here and their legal status in the state.
- July 23, 2016. California grey wolf report with photo of new resident lone wolf. The story describes the history of rancher conflicts with predators, and some of the livestock management practices to reduce predation.
- January 8, 2016. Welcome OR-25: California’s sexy new lone wolf relates the brief visit by an Oregon wolf, the wolf packs in Oregon, and California’s policies on resident wolves.
- August 20, 2015. California’s resident grey wolves (with pups!) reports on the discovery of the first wolf family — Shasta Pack.
Speak up for california wolves petition
Although California wolves are protected as an endangered species under federal and state law, they’re at risk of accidental killing due to hunting and trapping of other species in their habitat. Please join the Center for Biological Diversity in urging wildlife officials to ban these practices in wolf territory in California.
update on grandpa or-7
