Gray wolves are in the early stages of re-colonizing California, bringing about opportunities to: 1) monitor population expansion and growth, 2) understand changes in community ecology, and 3) mitigate human-wildlife conflict with this re-colonizing large carnivore. The 2016 Conservation Plan for Gray Wolves (Wolf Plan), developed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), was developed to address these opportunities with a key focus on improving community outreach and education to reduce the likelihood of perceived or real conflicts with wolves.
The Wolf Project, a branch of the California Carnivores program at UC Davis, has been funded by the Wildlife Conservation Network to further elucidate wolf ecology and improve coexistence between wolves and humans in California. The four aims of this project are: 1) understanding the efficacy of non-invasive monitoring techniques to determine pack size and reproductive status, 2) illuminating community interactions with their surrounding ecosystem, and 3) utilizing science to shed light on wolf demographics and foraging ecology.