SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsSLO County's Tule ElkSunday, February 27, 2005The rolling grasslands and oak woodlands of eastern San Luis Obispo County are the scene of a remarkable success story.Living here is the state's most robust herd of tule elk, an animal that has rebounded from the brink of extinction to reclaim much of its historic range. An estimated 750 of the large animals roam from Pozo in the west to the Carrizo Plain and south as far as Santa Barbara County. It is named the La Panza herd, after the mountain range that runs through the heart of the animals' territory. The population of the La Panza herd has grown steadily since 150 animals were relocated to the county in the early 1980s. When European Americans arrived in California in large numbers during the Gold Rush of the 1850s, an estimated 500,000 tule (pronounced "too-lee") elk roamed the Central Valley and the mountain ranges of the Central Coast. By the 1870s, unrestricted hunting and habitat loss decimated the elk until all that remained was one tiny herd on a ranch near Buttonwillow in western Kern County. That herd was protected and the animals began a slow recovery. By the 1970s, there were enough elk for the state Department of Fish and Game to begin relocating them across their former range. San Luis Obispo County got its first relocated elk in 1983. The rolling oak woodlands of Los Padres National Forest and the open grasslands of the Carrizo Plain proved to be ideal habitat, Fischer said. Recent aerial surveys counted 602 animals in the La Panza herd. Because not all animals are tallied during surveys, biologists estimate the herd to be from 750 to 800 animals -- about 20 percent of the state's population of about 3,700. Tule elk herd thriving in eastern SLO County The Tribune, David Sneed To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Read More
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