New Coalition Celebrates One-Year Anniversary of Gray Wolf's Thrilling Return to California

One year ago, a gray wolf from Oregon’s Imnaha pack, OR7, crossed over the state’s southern border and became the first wolf to roam California in more than eighty years. Earlier this fall, I blogged about environmental groups’ efforts to secure additional protections for this important endangered species, and a critical first step the California Department of Fish and Game is taking toward that goal.

Today, the news for OR7 and gray wolves in California gets even better. More than two dozen organizations working in the Pacific Northwest and California, including NRDC, have announced the formation of the Pacific Wolf Coalition, an alliance committed to recovering wolves across the region. The coalition’s press release can be found here. Our group will work toward the restoration of populations of wolves across their historic habitats in numbers that will allow them to re-establish their critical role in nature and ensure their long-term survival.

We are thrilled to be working with these other prominent wildlife protection groups to make sure OR7 and his eventual pack mates thrive in California and roam our state freely as they did decades ago.