Someone always asks me why I do educational seminars and outreach for wolves in areas of California where they are not there. Obvious constraints aside(it's a 6 hour drive to the CA wolf range)I believe that the Sierra Foothills will be a challenge in terms of wolf recovery in CA

Here's why: 1st here is the current elk species range and presence along California. Then here's the deer range.(Photo credit CDFW). It is reasonable to assume that wolves will likely follow deer more than elk due to their abundance. That may not necessarily be a bad thing BUT.

Here's a map produced by Sarah Antonelli,Kristen Boysen, Charlie Piechowski, Michael Smith and Geoff Willard from the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Their report/thesis will be linked in a later tweet and is well worth the read. Can you spot the similarity?

Odds are wolves will follow deer and settle in locations where livestock will be present. Why? Well, simply California is really steep in a lot of locations. Works great for ambush predators(hello cougars) but not so much for predators relying on chasing their prey.

As it so happens cows often require flatter land and although sheep and goats don't, humans who tend to them will likely prefer flatter land or more gentle hills. So it is an inevitability that wolf-livestock conflict will occur as wolf population increases in California.

Being proactive means that hopefully 1)livestock producers are more knowledgeable about wolves and their non-lethal options 2)They have someone to turn to for help and 3) find the non-lethal options interesting and attractive enough to adopt ahead of time for other predators.

I keep an eye out on the wolf recovery here in California because I have a soft spot for wolves but also because professionally I believe they will be a big challenge to livestock producers, government agencies, conservation orgs and various other stakeholders. Photo credit CDFW