California's growing wolf population triggers new management phase
The new phase allows the CDFW to consider issuing permits for 'less-than-lethal harassment,' like firing guns or nonlethal munitions to scare off wolf packs hunting livestock. Any permit system would have to follow laws set in the California Endangered Species Act and Federal Endangered Species Act.
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The new phase also prompts the CDFW to create an online tool for tracking GPS-collared wolves in the state. The CDFW will also publish its first annual report outlining the conservation and management of California wolves from 2015 to 2024. These changes are expected to occur in the coming weeks and months.
'This tool will greatly facilitate CDFW's efforts, as guided by the Conservation Plan, to provide timely information regarding wolf activity in the vicinity of livestock production,' the CDFW said. '… In the first part of 2025, CDFW has been able to collar and release 12 gray wolves in Northern California. There are now more satellite-collared wolves in California than ever before, which is expected to improve understanding and management of the species in the state.'
Wolves naturally reentered California from Oregon in 2011. Wolf populations were wiped out in the region in the early 1900s and were reintroduced in Idaho in 1995 and 1996. By 2008, descendants of wolves reintroduced in Idaho began to recolonize Northeast Oregon, and ultimately Northern California.
There are currently seven confirmed wolf packs in California: The Beyem Seyo pack, Diamond pack, Harvey pack, Ice Cave pack, Lassen pack, Whaleback pack and Yowlumni pack. These packs mostly inhabit Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties. However, the Yowlumni pack is found in the southern Sierra Nevada. The success of these packs prompted CDFW officials to enact Phase 2 of the state's wolf conservation plan.
'Five of the seven packs met CDFW's definition of a 'breeding pair' in 2024, meaning two adults and two or more pups surviving until the end of the year,' the CDFW said. 'Because CDFW has documented at least four breeding pairs for two consecutive years, California is now in 'Phase 2' of wolf management, as specified by the state's 2016 Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California.'
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The CDFW said that it is actively monitoring and tracking gray wolves in the state, investigating wolf deaths and wolf-related livestock attacks, and working to reduce conflicts between humans and gray wolves. In the last five years, CDFW officers have conducted eight investigations into gray wolf deaths.
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