Pups Born to California’s Last Grey Wolf Pack

Brian Richmond

Outside of his work in the data analytics sector, Brian Richmond has a deep interest in the natural world. In addition to hiking and backpacking popular California trails, Brian Richmond enjoys learning about the state’s native animals.

Native to California, grey wolves were nearly driven to extinction by hunters in the 1920s. From 1924 until 2011, no grey wolves resided within the state. Since the first wolf entered from Oregon in 2011, only two packs have established themselves: the Shasta pack, which subsequently died out, and the Lassen pack.

Recently, the Lassen pack added three new pups to the family. Wildlife experts now estimate the California grey wolf population to be between seven and ten. While efforts to increase grey wolf numbers have been fruitless, the new pups’ arrival brings new hope to the state’s repopulation program.

Grey wolves are an endangered and protected species under both California and federal law. However, they have been removed from the federal endangered list in regions with larger wolf populations, such as the Northern Rockies. However, even those populations need our protection to survive and thrive in the long term.

An Overview and Origin of West Coast’s Pacific Madrone

A doctor of anthropological sciences, Brian Richmond, PhD, builds and manages data infrastructure at Aura Health in San Francisco, California. Outside of work, Dr. Brian Richmond enjoys learning about the natural history of the West Coast.

The Pacific madrone is a native species characterized by shiny red peeling bark and takes its name from madroño, the Spanish word for strawberry tree. This reflects similarities between the distinct Pacific and Mediterranean arboreal species noticed by Father Crespi during the Portola Expedition of the late 18th century. A botanist and British naval surgeon Archibald Menzies named the tree, “Arbutus menziesii.”

A cousin of the manzanita shrub, the madrone can live 500 years and attain a height of 125 feet, although most specimens in gardens max out at 40 feet. An extreme example of a latitudinally ranging tree, the madrone’s range extends from Baja California to British Columbia. The madrone can endure a wide range of temperatures and rainfall conditions. A hardy species, the madrone sometimes inhabits rocky coastal outcrops as a dwarf shrub that grows a couple of inches a year. 

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the madrone is common in coastal hills, where it shares habitat with the live oak and redwood. It is also found at mid-elevations of the Western Sierra among species such as incense cedar and black oak.