Gray wolf makes long journey from Mt. Hood deep into California

Mike Chapman
Redding Record Searchlight
OR-93 is a young gray wolf from a pack in northern Oregon that has ventured farther south into California than any other wolf known to state wildlife officials.

A young gray wolf from a pack in northern Oregon has ventured farther south into California than any other wolf known to state wildlife officials.

The male wolf, known as OR-93, went from southeast of Mt. Hood to California's sparsely-populated Mono County, hundreds of miles from his birthplace, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"OR-93 is a young male that dispersed from Oregon’s White River pack, southeast of Mt. Hood," state wildlife officials said. "Like many young wolves, he subsequently left his pack in search of a new territory and/or a mate."

Gray wolves are listed as endangered under California's Endangered Species Act and managed under a conservation plan.

A GPS tracking collar was placed on OR-93 in his pack's territory in June 2020. Officials tracked him to Modoc County in the far northeast corner of California this February.

"He quickly passed through portions of numerous California counties," the wildlife agency said.

The wolf made it farther south to Alpine County north of Yosemite National Park between the trans-Sierra state Highways 4 and 108 in the past week. His last known location was in Mono County.

California wildlife officials said they'll continue monitoring OR-93's whereabouts along with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials.

OR-93 "has traveled farther south in California than the collared wolves that have preceded him," officials said.

He's the 16th gray wolf that officials have traced going into California. Most of them have trekked over the border from Oregon.

A previous wolf, named OR-54, was documented as going as far south as the Lake Tahoe Basin before turning around and heading back north.

"The others have primarily traveled, and sometimes settled, in the California’s northernmost counties," officials said.

This remote camera file photo taken May 3, 2014, and provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, shows the wolf OR-7 on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon. Authorities believe the wolf, which made world headlines when it wandered from Oregon to California, is dead.

In late 2011, OR-7 made headlines when he was the first wolf known to visit California since the 1920s, officials said. Over the past 10 years, two packs have formed in California.

Siskiyou County saw the emergence of the Shasta Pack, which had five pups born in 2015. The pack disappeared later that year.

The other group, known as the Lassen Pack, lived in parts of Lassen and Plumas counties. That pack has produced pups annually from 2017 to 2020, officials said.

What is believed to be a female gray colored wolf with OR-85 (black colored wolf with green colored satellite location collar) in Siskiyou County in late December. The female is scavenging on an old carcass that is believed to have been possible road kill, said Kent Laudon, California Fish and Wildlife’s Senior Environmental Scientist Specialist.

The latest wolf news in January was about a new pair that settled in Siskiyou County. State biologists think the pair will produce pups in springtime.

Wildlife officials in California say they're monitoring the recovering, small wolf population and working with ranchers and others to less conflicts with the wild animals and livestock.

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Mike Chapman is a reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Follow him on Twitter @mikechapman_RS. Subscribe today!