Tule Elk Thrive at Wind Wolves Preserve
David Myers
President
The Wildlands Conservancy
In 1998, The Wildlands Conservancy signed an agreement with the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to relocate tule elk to our Wind Wolves Preserve. The Preserve is the southernmost extension of tule elk’s historic range before they were decimated by the California Gold Rush and the agricultural land rush that soon followed. Thought to be extinct, six elk survived under the protection and foresight of Henry Miller, a rancher. By 1998, California’s indigenous tule elk had rebounded to over 3,100 elk, and DFG projected the tule elk population would increase significantly on Wind Wolves Preserve’s 93,000 acres of prime habitat.
Twenty elk were captured at the San Luis Rey Wildlife Refuge by netting them from a helicopter, then slung by the net to a holding pen where they were vaccinated, then trucked to Wind Wolves. These elk were held overnight in a 12 foot high canvased holding pen. Our staff, who worked hard on the elk’s relocation, anticipated a celebratory hurrah as the elk stepped one by one out of the holding pen. Instead, we were overpowered by a reverent silence as the elk returned to the wilds of Wind Wolves that cold January morning in 1998. The Wind Wolves Preserve tule elk herd has remained around 400 elk for the past decade because of climate driven drought and natural attrition to mountain lions. Today, the herd is one of the largest of the 22 tule elk herds in California, representing 7% of the estimated total population in the state!
