Elk Return to the Northern Sierra

California is the only place in the United States that is home to all three North American elk subspecies—Tule, Roosevelt, and Rocky Mountain elk. Notwithstanding that abundance, for many decades wildlife biologists believed none of these subspecies had historically roamed the Sierra Nevada.

That belief was put to the test in the late 1990s, when elk started moving into the Northern Sierra Nevada from northeastern California, reaching as far as Lake Tahoe. In 2020, a study by the Plumas National Forest confirmed that breeding herds had been established there since the early 2000s. Three distinct herds now occupy areas of Plumas and Sierra counties, including at least one in Sierra Valley that school children and their parents sometimes see crossing Highway 49 west of Loyalton.

As more elk began to appear in the Northern Sierra, scientists started to question their long-held assumptions. Were elk really newcomers to the Sierra Nevada or were they, like gray wolves, simply returning to lands from which they had been hunted out?  Earlier this year, a study by historical ecologist Richard Lanman clarified that while elk were likely never abundant in the Sierra Nevada, they were present in the region before disappearing in the California “fur rush” of the mid-1800s. Digging into ethnographic and linguistic archives, Lanman was able to find evidence from four Native American Tribes confirming the presence of elk in the Sierra Nevada well before the arrival of Western trappers and settlers. Nineteenth-century newspapers built on that evidence. An article in the Carson Daily Appeal in 1867 reported that hunters at Lake Bigler—now Lake Tahoe—killed two elk near Zephyr Cove, Nevada, one of which weighed an impressive 500 pounds. The following year, the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City, Nevada, recounted another hunt, where elk were taken near Honey Lake Valley in Lassen County, with one exceeding 400 pounds.

While Lanman’s study confirmed elk’s historical presence in the region, it did not address another question biologists have been pondering in recent years: which subspecies of elk is repopulating the Sierra? Recent genetic studies collected in Plumas and Sierra counties reveal that the elk in the Northern Sierra are an intergrade of Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk subspecies. The word “intergrade” is a biological term used to describe crosses between subspecies, while “hybrid” is reserved for crosses between species.

So, what more do we know about “our” elk? Both Roosevelt and Rocky Mountain elk rely on mature, uneven-aged forests with grassy openings and nearby water sources. These habitats provide cover and thermal protection, especially in winter, when elk typically remain close to forested areas for shelter. We also know that while the population of elk in the Northern Sierra remains poorly understood, their successful reproduction suggests suitable conditions for long-term survival.

Sustained elk populations in the Sierra Nevada could offer ecological and social benefits, including reducing fuel loads in a wildfire-prone region and providing new opportunities for wildlife viewing and cultural practices. Their presence could also help re-establish an important prey base for apex predators like the gray wolf, helping to reduce depredation of domestic livestock.

Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk © Nevada Department of Fish and Wildlife | Tule Elk © National Park Service | Roosevelt Elk © Timothy Giller | Elk Herd © National Park Service | Plumas Elk © Plumas News