Returning the Grey Wolf to California

The Recovery Efforts For The San Joaquin Kit Fox and The Riparian Brush Rabbit as Surrogate Species For Reintroduction and Recovery Of California’s Endangered Grey Wolf.

Presenter: Ellie Foster

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Jose Hernandez Ayala

Department: Geography, Environment, & Planning

Funding Source/Sponsor: Class Project

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Sustainability and Environmental Inquiry

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1S6C6PwHywDCHqdJTF5IjjnouTCo-OMkq

Abstract:
The goal of this paper was to successfully determine an area within the state of California that would support the reintroduction of the endangered Grey Wolf.  In order to be able to predict where in california would be best to support the reintroduced, a number of factors were considered. These factors included: California human population density, road density, cropland and Native American lands; in order to support the wolf population, a food source was required. To prevent a limitation, areas considered had to have both Elk and Mule Deer present.  Since the Grey Wolf has the ability to inhabit multiple geographical conditions, GIS maps addressing different habitat conditions were included but not considered a limiting factor. 

Northern California shows land that would be most suitable for Grey Wolf reintroduction. This is due to more sparsely populated land, as well as vast areas of national forest. While there are Elk and Mule Deer south of Bakersfield, there is conflict with the human population, as well as the fact that the Wolves may be hunted due to encroachment on cropland. The most suitable area, based on the factors considered in this research, would be northwestern California. This portion of the state has relatively dense forests that are predicted to remain into the near future, 2050, with a large portion being owned by the National Forest Service. It is highly likely this land will remain sparsely populated by humans due to a large portion being designated as critical habitat under the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The only limitation in this area is land designated under Native American control. This must be taken into consideration when negotiating reintroduction methods. The limited prior research that is available, notes northwestern California as one of the most suitable locations for Grey Wolf reintroduction.

One limitation that should be noted from this research comes from the USA Native Lands layer. This layer was not able to be incorporated into the suitability models due to an unknown reason. In order to overcome this limitation, the Native Lands layer was placed on top of the suitability map, and colored to match the lowest suitability value (0). This limitation may be overcome by developing a raster file that matches the other layers.