The tule elk ( Cervus canadensis nannodes) is a subspecies of elk found only in California, ranging from the grasslands and marshlands of the Central Valley to the grassy hills on the coast. The subspecies name derives from the tule (), a species of sedge native to freshwater marshes on which the tule elk feeds. When the Europeans first arrived, an estimated 500,000 tule elk roamed these regions, but by 1870 they were thought to be extirpated.[ In 1874–1875 a single breeding pair was discovered in the tule marshes of Buena Vista Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley.]
Description
Considered the smallest of the elk subspecies in North America, the tule elk were the dominant large ungulate in California prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The average weight of adult males is only and females have an average of . Although tule elk have been reported as half the size of the Roosevelt elk ( C. c. roosevelti), and sometimes referred to as the dwarf elk, this moniker may be misleading as the smaller size of some tule elk may reflect poor nutrition of elk subsisting on marginal habitat such as the Owens River watershed. California Department of Fish and Wildlife records show recent tule elk bulls on Grizzly Island in Suisun Bay weigh up to .[ This is a similar size to Roosevelt elk bulls which weigh between and .]
Tule elk herd size likely numbered in the several hundreds historically. Joseph Warren Revere, the grandson of Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere, wrote in his book Naval Duty in California that he counted 400 elk in a single herd on Pt. Reyes in the 1840s.
Genetic studies based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA confirm that tule elk, Roosevelt elk and Rocky Mountain elk should be considered distinct subspecies.[ Another microsatellite study in 2016 found no more than four alleles at any locus, consistent with tule elk having been reduced to a single breeding pair.]
History
The first European explorer to see tule elk was likely Sir Francis Drake who landed in July 1579 probably in today's Drake's Bay, Marin County, California: "The inland we found to be far different from the shoare, a goodly country and fruitful soil, stored with many blessings fit for the use of man: infinite was the company of very large and fat deer, which there we saw by thousands as we supposed in a herd..."[ A more definitive second encounter 16 years later was described by Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeño, who was shipwrecked in December 1595, and in Drake's Bay with certainty. Cermeño's account described "deer walking about, the largest ever found, as could be seen by the antlers, of which the Captain carried away a sample". On a trip inland they found "a great quantity of deer horns, one of which, measured before this witness, showed sixteen palmas 11 from point to point."]
The arrival of the Spanish in the late 18th century introduced cattle and horses to the grasslands of the Central Valley, competing with the native elk. Unrestricted hunting further reduced the herds. By the time elk hunting was banned by the State Legislature in 1873, the tule elk was believed to be extinct.
California cattle baron Henry Miller protected tule elk after a pair was discovered on his ranch in the tule marshes near Buena Vista Lake by game warden A. C. Tibbett in 1874. Miller ordered his men to protect the elk and is credited for the survival of the subspecies.[ After his death, the huge Miller-Lux ranch was subdivided and the hunting of the elk resumed. The population was reduced to 72 head. By 1895, habitat loss and poaching had reduced the elk population to only 28.]
In 1933, rancher Walter Dow took a small group of penned elk from Yosemite to his ranch in Owens Valley, east of the Sierra Nevada.[ Although not native habitat for the elk, they thrived. In the same year, the state put a small herd at Cache Creek. This herd has not fared well due to poor range conditions. This herd may have interbred with the Rocky Mountain elk which were introduced near Mount Shasta.
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In 1960, the state held a hearing in Owens Valley to determine how many elk should be allowed to live there. They decided the elk should be hunted to limit their numbers to under 500 animals. Through efforts of the California Department of Fish and Game, three permanent elk herds were established in California. By 1969, the Tupman State Reserve (32), Cache Creek (80) and Owens Valley, Inyo County (300 elk) were in place.
A private citizen from Los Angeles, Beula Edmiston, formed a group to attempt a preservation program for the elk. After more than 10 years of lobbying both on the federal and state levels, in 1971, California passed legislation (the Behr bill) requiring the elk may not be hunted until their numbers surpass 2,000 head statewide or until it could be determined that suitable elk habitat no longer existed in the state, and mandated the California Department of Resources to reintroduce the elk into former habitats wherever possible.[
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In 1976, the US Congress passed a resolution which stated 2000 tule elk is an appropriate national goal, and directed federal agencies to make federal lands available for preservation of tule elk.[The Tule Elk in California, Bureau of Land Management, PL 94 389 March 1980] An Interagency Task Force[A Management Plan for the Conservation of Tule Elk, The Tule Elk Interagency Task Force, June 1979] of representatives from the National Park Service, US Forest Service, the Armed Forces, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the California Department of Fish and Game[Tule elk in California-report to the legislature, May 1978, Resources Agency, Dept. of Fish and Game] selected sites for the reintroduction of tule elk within the state. A herd was established at the San Luis Wildlife Refuge in 1974, and elk were released at the Concord Naval Weapons Station in 1977. In 1978, herds were established at Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County, Lake Pillsbury in Lake County, Jawbone Canyon in Kern County, Point Reyes National Seashore, Fort Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, and Camp Roberts.
Historic range and current population
McCullough identified nineteenth century tule elk antler specimens collected in three separate locations north of the San Francisco Bay: Sonoma in Sonoma County, as well as San Geronimo and Tomales both in Marin County.[
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By 1986 numbers had increased to over 2,000 individuals distributed among 22 populations throughout California, largely due to successful reintroduction programs.[ By 1998, California's tule elk population exceeded 3,200.][Livezey KB. 1993. Tule elk relocated to Brushy Mountain, Mendocino County, California. California Fish and Game 79:131–132.] In 2007, the statewide population was estimated at 3,800.
Diet and impact on native grasslands
Two male and eight female elk were translocated from Merced County, California to Tomales Point on Point Reyes National Seashore in March 1978. The elk showed signs of nutritional stress including copper deficiency and antler anomalies by summer 1979 and two elk died. One explanation was molybdenum which expresses as copper deficiency. A former molybdenum mine existed in that area of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Other possible explanations include failure to remove cattle until 1979 and the fact that 1977 and 1978 were drought years. Birth rates remained negligible until 1981, when they began reproducing at predicted maximum rates. Studies of fecal material documented that the tule elk preferred grasses and with little use of shrubs such as willow.
A 2007 study at the Tomales Point Elk Reserve showed that tule elk appear to play a critical role in preventing succession of open grasslands to less diverse, shrub-dominated ecosystems. Elk grazing had a positive impact on native grassland species abundance and diversity, and seemed to increase the richness and abundance of some exotic taxa while reducing Holcus lanatus—a highly invasive exotic grass which is a major problem in Mesic habitat.
See also
Further reading
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Changes in Interactions Among Tule Elk Bulls Cervus elaphus nannodes. Joseph Muriuki Wahome, Thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1995. 330 pages
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The Return of the Tule Elk-Verna R. Johnston-Pacific Discovery, Vol. 31, Number 1, pages 14–25, Jan–Feb, 1978 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
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The Tule Elk Preservation Act of 1976-Public Law 94-389
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Tule Elk Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Oct. 1997
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History of the California Tule Elk, Gerhard Bakker, Los Angeles City College, 1961
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Tule Elk in California, History, Current Status, and Management Recommendations, Gene Scott Fowler, UC Berkeley, July 1985
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Acclimation of Reintroduced Tule Elk in the Diablo Range, California, Julie A.Phillips, Thesis, San Jose State University, May 1985
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