March 24, 2025

President Erica Zavaleta 

California Fish and Game Commission 

P.O. Box 944209 

Sacramento, CA 94244-2090 

Request for Updated Wolf Mgmt Plan: Sustainable Policies, Practices and Path Forward

President Zavaleta, Commissioners, and CDFW Leadership: 

We write to you out of respect for the balance between wildlife conservation and the well-being of California’s rural communities, our economy, and the intrinsic right for all humans to participate safely, sustainably, and deeply in nature. We all share a desire to see ecosystems flourish. To achieve this common goal, we must recognize and proactively address imbalance and inequity before they develop into crises and failed systems. Wolves recolonizing California present a charismatic vision. However, the practical and functional reality for individuals, communities, our agricultural and food security, and our wild ecosystems may be less encouraging.

A growing and diverse group of stakeholders from throughout California are concerned about wolves' proximity to, and negative impacts on, people, livestock, and struggling prey species. Managing wolves effectively now will reduce the severity of conflict in the future. Managing wolves now will reduce the severity of measures needed in the future. Managing wolves now will reduce the geographic scope of their impacts on Californians in the future as well.

With shared goals and heightened concern in mind, we respectfully request the following actions:

1. Actively Support Federal Delisting of Wolves in California: California deserves the right to sustainably manage wildlife and wolves, independently and without federal intervention. 
2. Promptly Update the Gray Wolf Management Plan: The current plan documents are 10+ years old, drafted before wolves entered California. With 100+ wolves on the landscape, wolf activity in 10 counties, and other states’ experience since 2015, there is new data to learn from.
3. Establish a data-driven path for removing the Gray Wolf from CESA Endangered Status: to maintain social tolerance for wolves, to maintain successful and thriving livestock production, and to support thriving and diverse ecosystems, we must have a defined framework that leads to practical, purposeful, sustainable, and regulated management of wolves. 
4. Identify the threat subsidized wolves present to humans and ecosystems: we must establish a management framework that prioritizes wild wolves on wild landscapes and minimizes the incidence of subsidized wolves and habituation to humans, human settled areas, and human-provided food sources. Subsidized wolves are not wild. Their presence will negatively impact California’s rural and mountain economies. Subsidized wolves have amplified impacts on their native prey base (deer, elk, antelope), which are already struggling in many areas of California. 
5. Proactively define a management strategy with regards to wolves and Tule Elk: the recovery of Tule Elk in California is an unmatched conservation success. Wolves will eventually find their way into our Tule Elk herds. While wolves’ decimation of Yellowstone's elk herd is celebrated, California does not have an excess of prey for wolves to correct. Do California leaders believe the communities with abundant elk would prefer wolves in their yards, ranches, and open range?
6. Enable realistic and proven protocols that deter wolves from preying on livestock: ranchers cannot be expected to stand idle as their animals are torn to pieces in winter pasture or hunted and run for miles every night while on their summer range. Along with numerous non-lethal strategies, fear of humans has proven to be a significant factor in reducing depredation. 

Frequent observations of wolves in California suggest that official counts underestimate actual numbers. This is expected, and underreporting will become greater as wolves continue to breed and disperse. Wolves throughout their current range demonstrate a lack of wariness and habitually target livestock. When wolves lose their natural caution and consistently prey on domestic animals, proactive measures—including the possibility of lethal removal for confirmed problem wolves—may be necessary. Taking action now can deter future conflicts and maintain public support for wolves on the landscape.

Hunters, who are deeply invested in conservation and ecosystem success, fear the impact on already stressed deer, elk, and antelope herds. California already offers no effective management of black bears and mountain lions. Hunters’ concerns aren’t rooted in hostility toward predators but in ensuring balanced and healthy ecosystems and a high cultural value for abundant ungulate herds. Unchecked wolf activity will undermine these herds, complicating California’s wildlife management goals.

Refreshing the management plan, establishing a path to delisting and regulated management, enabling effective deterrents, and clarifying legal authority for hazing and removal of problem wolves, will empower communities to coexist with wolves sustainably. Acknowledging that lethal removal will sometimes be required is part of responsible stewardship. We must ensure wolves remain truly wild and in balance with the people and other wildlife of California. 

In lieu of a formal petition to the Commission, we seek your proactive leadership on the above requests. 

Sincerely, 

SIGN YOUR NAME TO THIS LETTER BELOW

The below commentary was shared with the California Fish & Game Commission, during public comments (Agenda Item 2) of their 12/11/24 meeting in Sacramento CA. Mike Costello is a HOWL contributor who lives in California, and is intent on bringing stakeholders together for the uncomfortable but necessary process of getting ahead of an impending crisis, where wolf, bear and mountain lion population far exceed the available carrying capacity that current prey species populations support.

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