Gray wolf wanders into central Sierra
Found in Mono County, the youngster has gone farther south than previous adventurers
A young gray wolf visited Mono County this week, traveling farther south into California than any known wild wolf in a century.
The GPS-collared wolf, a male known as OR-93, has traveled hundreds of miles to the central Sierra Nevada from his birthplace near Oregon’s Mount Hood, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
He crossed the state line into Modoc County earlier this month, then quickly journeyed south through portions of numerous California counties in the northeast section of the state.
He arrived this week in Alpine County to an area between the trans-Sierra State Highways 4 and 108. South of Lake Tahoe, it’s a rugged landscape of glacially carved valleys, thick forests and deep river canyons.
Then he edged into Mono County, east of Yosemite. The fifth-least populous county in California, Mono County is home to Bridgeport, June Lake and Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort.
His adventures — in search of food or a mate — highlight the ability of this iconic species to disperse, if habitats are connected.
“OR-93’s historic trek so far south into California’s central Sierra Nevada is thrilling news for wolf recovery throughout the West,” said Pamela Flick, California program director of the nonprofit advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife.
As the first known member of Mount Hood’s “White River Pack” to disperse into California, “OR-93 also importantly brings the potential for increased genetic diversity to our state,” she said.
Scattered populations of an estimated 6,000 gray wolves can be found across the West and Great Lakes, restoring a species that was once shot, trapped or poisoned.
They are returning after an extermination program eliminated them from western U.S. states in the late 1800s and early 1900s, according to the Center For Biological Diversity. The last wild wolf in California was shot in 1924, in Lassen County.
But they are coming back. OR-93 is the 16th gray wolf documented to have traveled into California from Oregon in recent years. One of those wandering wolves once visited near Truckee and Boreal Mountain ski area in Tahoe National Forest, about a mile and a half from Interstate 80. Known as OR-54, she was found dead in Shasta County in February 2020.
Fewer than a dozen known wolves live in California, including some lone individuals and the so-called “Lassen Pack,” which occupies the dry, volcanic and rugged landscape of Lassen and Plumas counties. The “Shasta Pack” in Siskiyou County had five pups in 2015 before disappearing late that year.
OR-93 represents the second recent wolf sighting. In December, authorities reported that a black male wolf known as OR85, collared by Oregon wildlife officials last year, was spotted in Siskiyou County with another wolf, likely a female. CDFW biologists believe it is likely they will produce pups this spring.
But there has been growing conflict between wildlife advocates and the state’s ranchers, who report livestock losses. While the confirmed cattle killings represent just a fraction of California’s 5.15 million head of
cattle, they disproportionately affect ranchers who live in Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen and Plumas counties.
Gray wolves were taken off the federal endangered species list in January, leaving protection and management up to each state.
In just three days this week, Wisconsin hunters killed nearly twice the number of wolves that wildlife managers had intended to be harvested in a brief, court-ordered hunting and trapping season, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Minnesota is now debating whether to allow wolf hunting this fall.
In California, wolves continue to be listed as endangered under California’s Endangered Species Act. In 2019, the courts upheld protection for gray wolves, rejecting a challenge from the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the California Cattlemen’s Association and California Farm Bureau Federation.
They can be distinguished from coyotes by facial characteristics. A coyote has a narrow snout and small nose pad, with large ears relative to its head size. A wolf has a broad snout and large nose pad, with small ears relative to its head size. These two animals have similar coat colors and wolf pups in midsummer and fall can closely resemble coyotes.
Distinguishing dogs from wolves can be challenging. Many of the traits possessed by wolves also can be found in domestic dogs, so no single trait should be used to definitively distinguish a dog from a wolf.
Wild wolves will almost never approach a human and don’t pose a safety threat, according to CDFW. If you have a close encounter with a wolf or wolves, don’t run. Instead, maintain eye contact, act aggressively and make noise while slowly retreating. If the wolf doesn’t leave, yell or throw objects.
CDFW encourages those who see wolves to detail their sightings on its online reporting site: wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/ Mammals/Gray-Wolf/Sighting-Report.