Wolf spotted near PCT in Southern California for first time in over 100 years

GPS collar data has confirmed that a wolf entered the mountains of Los Angeles County last month, making it the first time a wolf has been documented in the area in modern history. This 3-year-old female gray wolf, known to California Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists as BEY03F, has made history by venturing farther south than any other wolf since her species’ reintroduction to the United States in the mid-1990s.

You can see the images obtained by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. herein a CBS News LA news report.

The history of wolves in California

Before BEY03F, the last confirmed wolf in California was killed in 1924 in Lassen County, directly east of the Pacific Crest Trail as it passes through Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Wolves were extirpated from the lower 48 states due to human-wildlife conflicts during westward expansion. As cattle grazing and open-range livestock began to spread westward into wolf habitat, the wolves, which preyed on these animals, began to be treated as economic threats and were killed in response.

Recovery and Return

With protections under the Endangered Species Act since 1973, reintroduction efforts in the 1990s in Yellowstone National Park and Idaho, and finally the natural dispersal of these wild animals, wolves returned to Northern California in 2011 and have been slowly repopulating the state since.

Perhaps even more interesting than being the southernmost wolf in recent history, wolf BEY03F is, in a sense, a hiker.

He was born in Plumas County in Northern California, which sits between Sierra City (a PCT trail town) and Lassen Volcanic National Park (which the PCT travels directly through), and in recent years, he has traveled the entire length of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, heading from SOBO to Los Angeles County.

In its most recent tracking update on February 14, GPS collar data showed it was getting even closer to the popular town of Tehachapi. Currently, it is believed to be in the Tehachapi Mountains and moves NOBO into the Sierra Nevada once again. California Fish and Wildlife experts have said he is likely heading north in hopes of finding a mate after failing to find any of his species this far south.

Can you see a wolf on the PCT?

For Pacific Crest Trail hikers, particularly those moving through the desert section between the Mojave and the southern Sierra, this development adds a new layer of context to the landscape during the upcoming hiking season.

During previous hiking seasons, four of the trail’s five main sections were known to be wolf habitat: the Sierra, Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Now, although BEY03F is likely to return to the Sierra, the Wilderness section has been added to this list, making these PCT sections five out of five for wolf activity.

Although exciting news, one wandering individual does not automatically classify the desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail as established wolf territory, and hikers should not expect encounters just yet.

Wolves in general are very elusive animals that tend to avoid humans and are still found in very low densities throughout California. Most of what we know about wolf activity is due to GPS collars, camera monitoring, and DNA evidence. Even in areas with established wolf packs, direct visual encounters remain extremely rare. In fact, there are no confirmed observations of wolves by hikers on the PCT.

Do you think you saw a wolf while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail?

Report any documentation to local wildlife agencies. Here is the report form if your sighting is in California.

The appearance of BEY03F in Los Angeles County represents an important milestone in the ongoing recovery of California wolves, made even more interesting by its proximity to the Pacific Crest Trail. For hikers, it’s a reminder that the trail passes through landscapes still influenced by wild, wide-ranging animals: Wolves are out there, even if they remain largely out of sight.

Featured image: A gray wolf photographed in the US Midwest in 2011 (not a photo of BEY03F, the wolf in this story). Photo via USFWS Midwest Region.

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