California is inching closer to a stable wolf population, raising the prospect of the state revisiting its strict protections for the species. Yet ranchers at the frontlines of wolf attacks are unlikely to see any relief soon.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s year-end estimate of the state wolf population has reached nine packs – an increase from seven at the end of 2023. But that number is likely to drop one or two by the time the department’s quarterly report comes out in the spring, according to Axel Hunnicutt, CDFW state gray wolf coordinator.
That’s because the Beckwourth pack, previously active in Sierra and Plumas counties, has not demonstrated any activity over the last year. Meanwhile a new, unnamed pack has emerged in Plumas, Lassen, Tehama and Shasta counties. And there is a pair of wolves newly roaming in the Lassen region that is responsible for several livestock kills.
In October and November, CDFW confirmed six attacks on livestock in Lassen County, four in Siskiyou County and one in Tulare County – much further south than the wolf population typically occupies. They also noted a probable attack in Tulare County and one unknown occurrence in Sierra County.
“More and more our attention is overloaded by just the monitoring side, the response of, ‘Hey, there could be a new pack in this area,’ and just the time and resources it takes to figure that out,” Hunnicutt said.
During a State Board of Food and Agriculture meeting last August, California Cattlemen’s Association President Steve Arnold promised to litigate if the state reaches eight packs and the California Fish and Game Commission does not reconsider the species’ endangered status under the California Endangered Species Act.
At the federal level, there have been attempts both to take gray wolves off or add them to the nation’s Endangered Species Act. In 2022 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched a National Recovery Plan for gray wolves to outline adaptive management of the species’ repopulation across the lower 48 states.
That decision came out the same day FWS rejected two petitions to list gray wolves as endangered in the northern Rocky Mountains and the western states. On Tuesday, FWS rejected petitions to remove wolf protection in the western Great Lakes and lower 48 states.
In September the Sportsmen's Alliance filed a lawsuit against FWS to “compel the agency to issue findings on two petitions requesting gray wolf delisting and downlisting” from 2023. That same month, Defenders of Wildlife issued a statement criticizing the Biden administration for filing a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals to ease wolf protection in the lower 48 states.
Hunnicutt estimates that at least 30 pups were born across California in 2024 and estimates the state’s total gray wolf population at 70. But the metric that defines successful repopulation is the total number of breeding pairs.
A successful wolf breeding pair produces at least two pups that survive until Dec. 31, hence CDFW’s year-end counts. Hunnicutt said the department’s next quarterly report will include the the number of packs and areas of wolf activity in the state through the end of the year, but not necessarily breeding pairs.
According to the 2016 Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves in California, “CDFW anticipates conducting a status review of wolves in California when the number of successful breeding pairs reaches six pairs for two consecutive years.”
That same report said it will likely take California longer than other western states to become home to eight pairs due to the state’s smaller elk population, a common prey for wolves. CDFW estimated that eight breeding pairs confirmed over two successive years would likely mean California was home to more than 100 gray wolves.
When wolves began naturally repopulating California in 2011, CCA Vice President of Government Affairs Kirk Wilbur said that the idea of compensation for lost livestock was largely rejected by ranchers on a philosophical basis.
“They raise cattle to feed Californians, to feed Americans and to feed the world, and they didn't feel like they should be paid for feeding wolves,” he said.
But as time went on and wolves started to kill commercial cattle, Wilbur said compensation became “the least the state can do.” He added that wolf population growth began to concern ranchers far outside traditional wolf regions, especially once they struck in Tulare County.
CCA got an additional $600,000 from the 2024 state budget for the CDFW-run Wolf-Livestock Compensation Pilot Program, after the original $3 million from the initial 2021 allocation ran out last March. But fewer dollars restricted the program to awarding ranchers only for direct losses, leaving non-lethal deterrents and stress impacts unfunded.
“You have the stress impacts on surviving herd members, lower body condition because they're getting run and stressed, increased pregnancy losses of calves because of that stress,” Wilbur said. “And there's also an emotional toll on the ranchers that are working those cattle day in and day out.”
Wilbur expects the $600,000 should last ranchers two to four years to cover direct loss compensation and said CCA would fight in the legislature to get renewed funding once the money starts to dwindle.
And CDFW is ramping up its wolf research efforts. The department initiated a contract with University of California, Berkeley to gather comprehensive data to better inform how the state approaches wolf management.
Among the study objectives, the researchers are looking into wolf dietary options, habitats and patterns of "depredation" -- attacks on livestock.
Mauriel Rodriguez Curras, a California Wolf Project researcher, told Agri-Pulse they’re developing a species distribution model, combining previous occurrence data with new data to better predict how wolves move across California’s landscape.
“Some of the preliminary estimates that we have on home ranges suggest that they are much larger than they are in other [states],” Curras said, though the study is still in its early stages.
They’re also reviewing how well the compensation program — which Curras gave CDFW props for initiating — is performing. Part of their early efforts include outreach to ranchers as wolf activity overlaps with private land.
“Hopefully, with a little bit more exposure to different folks on the ground, we'll start to build more trust, and then this coming winter and then in the summer, we can go to a lot more areas” particularly for placing new camera traps, he said.
Curras hopes their independent report will come out in the early spring, concurrent with a separate but largely identical report from CDFW. The wolf project team plans to release an annual publication with new data.
“It's new to California, and it's growing very, very quickly,” he said.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
