Sierra Nevada Crimson Fox Detected within the Southern Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada pink fox (SNRF) which traditionally inhabited the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada and Cascades in California and Oregon, has been detected close to Taboose Cross, on the jap boundary of Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nationwide Park – a primary for that area for the reason that Thirties.
The state and federally endangered Sierra Nevada pink fox was thought to now not exist within the Sierra Nevada vary till a small inhabitants was found at Sonora Cross in 2010, west of the city of Bridgeport. California Division of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) employees just lately detected Sierra Nevada Crimson Fox on 4 events at three survey cameras east of the John Muir Path between 11,400 and 12,000 ft. The 4 detections occurred between April 20, 2022 and June 4, 2022 and lengthen the recognized vary of SNRF greater than 100 miles south of the Sonora Cross inhabitants.
“These new detections are very personally gratifying and is an actual payoff for all of the arduous work our employees has put in,” mentioned CDFW biologist Brian Hatfield. “From a conservation standpoint this reveals that the Sierra Nevada Crimson Fox is extra broadly distributed than beforehand believed.”
SNRF detections alongside the Sierra Crest, together with the newest sightings, counsel connectivity of the subspecies between high-elevation areas of Kings Canyon Nationwide Park and the inhabitants at Sonora Cross.
This mission is a part of an ongoing digicam survey of alpine carnivores that started in 2015 and is being coordinated by CDFW employees from the Bishop Area Workplace. These surveys are in distant areas of the Sierra Nevada vary, and CDFW employees have hiked and skied numerous miles throughout each summer season and winter to deploy and keep the survey cameras.
Collaborators on this research embrace the UC Davis Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit, the Inyo and Sierra nationwide forests, Sequoia and, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite nationwide parks, the California Division of Water Sources, Southern California Edison and CDFW.
CDFW Picture: Sierra Nevada pink fox close to a digicam station close to Taboose Cross in March of 2022.
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Media contacts:
Brian Hatfield CDFW Biologist, (760) 873-3076
Tim Daly CDFW Communications, (916) 201-2958