Rambles with Joe // Tule Elk and Oak

Join me on a spring gravel bike ride through Oak Savanna and for a behind-the-scenes look at Kyle and I making the ‘The Mighty Oak’ series for WHERE THE WILD ROAM. As we ride, we also talk about Tule Elk and check in on some Tule Elk camera traps.
Tule Elk are one of my new favorite California animals and have really become a symbol of Wild California for us. Historically, Tule Elk -found nowhere else in the world but California- depended on oak savanna and oak woodlands seasonally throughout the state.
There are three species of elk that exist in California; Roosevelt, Rocky Mountain and Tule elk. The Tule Elk are the smallest of all the elk species in North America and they are endemic to California.
Their range spanned east of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada west to the coast line and north from the headwaters of the Sacramento River south to the Tehachapi Mountains. The variation in climate and topography illustrate the great adaptability of the tule elk. Accounts in journals and diaries of early explorers indicate that approximately 500,000 tule elk inhabited the State. Between 1800 and 1840 hide and tallow hunters took large numbers of elk. From 1840 to 1849 southern Sacramento began to see a reduction in elk numbers due to increasing settlement and the gold rush. Market hunters then further reduced elk numbers and by 1870 only a few elk remained in the Buena Vista Lake area. DNA evidence indicates the tule elk numbers could have been as low as a single pair or a small number (2-4) of closely related individuals. In 1873 a law was passed to fully protect tule elk, although at that time it was unclear if any even remained. A rancher named Henry Miller realized the importance of this animal and diligently protected the last remaining tule elk.
They’ve now been reintroduced in several areas throughout the state thanks to the great work of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other organizations.

[@leighbartoo574]

Fantastic! I'm deeply grateful the two of you love this habitat type so much. I have met others that love it the way I do, but honestly, those people are few and far between.

[@Where_The_Wild_Roam]

Should we start a club or something?! We're not joking. We would be small club, but only the coolest?

[@leighbartoo574]

@Where_The_Wild_Roam it would be an awesome, if not very small, club. Lol One day I'd love to hike a bit in an oak savanna without cows to smell the difference. I've only ever been in ones with cows, but I would imagine the smell is different.

[@sujiphoto]

I'm in! Do we get a special hat or something?!@@Where_The_Wild_Roam