The Story of Journey, California’s First Wolf Since the 1920's

In 2011, a wolf tagged as OR-7 traveled over 1,000 miles and made his way from Oregon into California as a lone wolf looking for a mate. When he stepped foot into California, he was the first wild wolf in our state since the 1920's. OR-7, nicknamed “Journey”, traveled back into Oregon, found a mate, and started his pack. He and his mate had five litters between 2014 and 2018. Journey and his mate paved the way for a population of wild wolves in California.

journey of wolf or-7

As of 2023, there are seven known packs of wolves in Northern California: the Lassen, Beckwourth, Whaleback, Beyem Seyo, Harvey, and Yowlumni packs, in addition to, one unnamed pack. The Lassen pack is named after the area that they inhabit. The original breeding male of the pack, CA-08M, is OR-7’s son, and the breeding female is tagged as LAS01F. This pack had a litter of pups each year between 2017 and 2019.

CA-08M, the original breeding male, has not been documented since the 2019 breeding season. Since June 2019, a black male wolf has been documented as the new breeding male. In 2020, he sired a litter of 9 pups, and a litter of 6 in 2021.

 

Historical Background of Wolves in California

Clear historical records from 1750 to 1850 indicate that wolves were once present in the Coastal Range from San Diego to Sacramento when Europeans first began exploring and settling these areas. From 1850-1900, wolves were seen in Shasta County and in the central Sierra Nevadas. These historical reports of wolves appear in various regions within California, surfacing as Europeans shifted from the coasts toward inland forests, mountains, and plains.

European settlement changed the landscape of California from wilderness to a land marked by missions, towns, ranchos, agricultural development, and roads. In addition to this encroachment on wolf habitat, market hunters soon decimated prey populations that would have supported wolves, marking an era of conflict that would lead to the decline of wolves in California.

 
bridal falls indigenous campsite

Wolves in Indigenous Culture

The wolf was known among many California tribes statewide, as demonstrated through language, legends, artwork, ceremonial garb, and creation stories. By the time Europeans arrived, there were more than 80 distinct tribal languages spoken in California, most of which had clearly differentiated words for wolf, coyote, fox, and dog. Some tribes revered the wolf as sacred, though representations of the wolf vary from tribe to tribe.

The Decline of Wolves in California

As with other mass wolf extermination campaigns throughout the United States during the early 20th century, California state legislature enacted bounty laws to eradicate wolves and coyotes to protect livestock. By the middle of the 1920s, wolves in California seemed to have disappeared entirely. One was trapped in San Bernardino County in 1922, and another, reported to be the last to be captured in the state, was trapped in Lassen County in 1924.

Although the U.S. Forest Service estimated that approximately 50 wolves existed in Lassen, Tahoe, El Dorado, Stanislaus, and Rouge River National Forests as recently as 1937, there was little evidence to suggest that any wolves were actually present. The occasional trapping of wolves still occurred in California, but it was concluded that these individuals had been released from captivity and were not from a thriving local population.

aldo leopold working in the field

The Origins of Wolf Conservation

By the 1960s, the only gray wolves left in the lower 48 states were found in northern Minnesota and Isle Royale, Michigan. Fortunately, early conservationists such as Aldo Leopold and Adolph Murie began sounding the call for wolf conservation, noting their important ecological role. The subsequent environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s helped further increase public support for wolves, and in 1973, they received protections under the federal Endangered Species Act.

With the reintroduction of wolves into the northern Rockies and Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, wolves began to make a comeback. As wolf recovery has progressed, scientists have learned more and more about the wolf's important role in restoring natural ecosystem dynamics, which you can learn more about on our Biodiversity page.

 

A Bright Future for California's Wolves

Almost two decades after the first wolves were brought to Yellowstone in the 1990s, wolf populations have naturally begun to increase out of established and thriving packs. As a result, wolves have begun expanding their range and returning to California on their own in recent years. Though time will tell what the future holds for wolf populations and distribution across the state, conservation organizations such as California Wolf Center are optimistic.

The Klamath-Siskiyou and Modoc Plateau regions in northern California and southwestern Oregon could support up to 470 wolves, according to a feasibility study conducted by the Conservation Biology Institute. It’s our hope that conservation efforts and public awareness will help pave the way for more packs like the Lassen pack to once again call California home.