Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by Tule Elk helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most State Natural Reserve valued natural and cultural resources, and “At times we saw bands creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. of elk, deer, and antelope JERRY BROWN in such numbers that they Governor MIKE CHRISMAN actually darkened the plains Secretary for Resources RUTH COLEMAN for miles, and looked in the Director, California State Parks distance like great herds of cattle.” California State Parks supports equal access. Description of the Central Valley in 1850, Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who from the Memoirs of Edward Bosqui need assistance should contact the park at (661) 764-6881. This publication is available in alternate formats by contacting: CALIFORNIA For information call: STATE PARKS (800) 777-0369 P. O. Box 942896 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. Sacramento, CA 711, TTY relay service 94296-0001 www.parks.ca.gov Tule Elk State Natural Reserve 8653 Station Road Buttonwillow, CA 93206 (661) 764-6881 © 2004 California State Parks Printed on Recycled Paper hunted tule elk. Thus for thousands of opportunities. They shot elk by the hun- years the elk thrived and multiplied, dreds and drove them from the open prairie ranging from Shasta County in the north, into the tules. By 1845 about 3,000 elk and to the base of the Tehachapi Mountains deer hides a year were exported from Cali- in the south, east to the oak-grasslands of fornia. the Sierra Nevada foothills, and west to Nevertheless, tule elk were still plentiful the Pacific, between Point Reyes and until the gold rush brought thousands of new Santa Barbara. This subspecies of elk immigrants to California. Seemingly overnight was the predominant form of animal life the demand for meat increased greatly. Some in the Central Valley, comparable to the 49ers found it more profitable to hunt than to bison of the Great Plains. They nor- work in the mines; by 1850 the entire Sacra- mally form herds of 40 to 60 animals, mento Valley tule elk population had been but they were so numerous in the northern wiped out. In the San Joaquin Valley, where T he deep trough of the San Joaquin Valley San Joaquin Valley that herds sometimes hunting was less common, the elk survived begins south of Redding and stretches 430 miles numbered one to two thousand. somewhat longer. However, in 1863 market along I-5 past Bakersfield. At the valley’s south hunters claimed to have killed the last elk DECLINE OF THE SPECIES end, 22 miles west of Bakersfield, Tule Elk State cow and calf left in the tules of the San Because predators—grizzly and black bears, Natural Reserve protects a flourishing species of Joaquin Delta. The remaining elk range was elk that was once hunted nearly to extinction. mountain lions and coyotes—were a threat Though spring and fall are pleasant, the elk only to very young, weak or crippled elk, it are at their most interesting during the hottest was probably the food supply that limited days of summer, when temperatures can reach the elk population, particularly in drought Bright Wasco Way Wasco Russell Rd. 100 to 115 degrees. However, until the heavy years. European grasses, introduced in the Dunford Stockdale Hwy. late 1700s to mid-1800s, compromised the Station Rd. winter rains begin, opportunities to view and Adohr Rd. 5 Morris 43 elks’ grazing areas. The elk, deer and other photograph the elk are still good. Freeborn animals living on the grassy marshland and CaliforniaDairy Rd. TULE ELK STATE NATURAL River NATIVE PEOPLE AND THE TULE ELK Tupmman. RESERVE oak savannah were now competing with Aqu TUPMAN Panama Ln. For thousands of years the Southern Valley Yokuts horses and cattle for grazing resources. ed uc Kern lived stable lives, thanks to an abundance of Serious commercial exploitation of tule t waterways. Tule reeds provided building elk began during the early 1800s, when 119 materials for houses and boats, and their roots they became part of the hide and tallow Tule Elk and seeds were edible. Acorns, various nuts, trade. In 1827 the fur trade brought hun- State Natural Reserve seeds, leaves and berries, and a variety of fish, dreds of professional hunters called the game and fowl rounded out their diet. “fur brigades”—who wintered in the Central Buena Vista Millux Because antelope, deer and smaller animals Valley because of its relatively mild Lake Bed McKittrick were easier to catch, the native people rarely weather and excellent grazing and hunting 1 2345 Miles S.P.R.R. 264 8 Kilometers Tulare Lake areas of the San Joaquin Valley. The herd shares a loose, flexible, but On the reserve the once lush riparian habitat well-defined social order. Relationships along Buena Vista Slough disappeared. are established, developed and In 1954 management of the 41 surviving elk maintained by activities such as eye was turned over to California State Parks which contact (e.g., the direct stare) or devised a feeding program to keep them in fights that may involve rearing and good health. Artificial ponds allowed the boxing with forelegs. Among the animals to cool off during the heat of summer males there might be full- by indulging in their favorite sport of “wallow- fledged, head-to-head ing.” combat with antlers, though Today the reserve is no longer a good most conflicts are resolved example of natural tule elk habitat. California by more subtle forms of State Parks is looking for ways to provide a testing. Since social and more spacious and appealing natural envi- cooperative herd behavior ronment for the elk. New management and protects against predators development programs are currently under and ensures survival, the inherited ability of consideration, but the best long-term solu- tule elk to work together in a herd is as vital as THE ANNUAL CYCLE tion may be to locate a new and consider- more obvious physical factors like size and Molting—Each spring tule elk shed their old ably larger reserve in which to protect and color. coats for short, sleek, reddish new ones. By interpret the tule elk. Communication within the herd is complex October and November this new coat is fully and involves all of the senses, though smell THE ELK grown and has faded to the light buff color seems to be the most highly developed and Three kinds of elk are native to Western North characteristic of tule elk. vital. Voluntary and involuntary sounds and America. Roosevelt or Olympic elk from Antlers—Only males carry antlers, which are visual signs are used to maintain and coordi- northwestern California and western Oregon cast each year in late winter and then regrown. nate activities. While grazing, for instance, each and Washington are thought to be the largest. Antler size increases until about the sixth or animal receives and passes along information Also larger than tule elk, the Rocky Mountain seventh year. During regrowth they are cov- on the nature and direction of possible threat elk, from the Rocky Mountains and Great ered with velvet and are sensitive and easily through signs and signals that may seem trivial Basin, have been introduced into Monterey, damaged. Velvet is shed in late July or early to a human observer. Even a gentle wind may San Luis Obispo, and Shasta Counties, as well August before the rutting season. disrupt the normal pattern, making the entire as into a herd enclosed at Tejon Ranch in Kern Rutting—Many behavioral and physiological herd nervous and edgy. Chewing, digestive County. The smaller tule elk are lighter in color changes precede the breeding season be- tract noises—even the faint creak and clicking and have shorter coats, larger teeth and tween August and early October. In July adult made by the animals’ hooves—play a role in various other characteristics that help suit bulls join the cow herds. Eventually the the quiet symphony of sounds and sights that them to their warm, dry natural habitat. master bull drives all other bulls from the herd keeps the herd moving as a unit. now the willow- and tule-filled offered a $500 reward for information on Commission purchased 953 acres near the marshes between Buena Vista anyone disturbing them. town of Tupman. By the end of August the new and Tulare Lakes. Gradu- Tule elk numbers increased rapidly Tupman Reserve was completely fenced, and ally this refuge disap- after 1895; by 1914 they were doing elk from the Miller and Lux enclosure were peared as the area was an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 moved to the new site. The state agency then diked, drained, and damage to Miller and Lux crops known as the Division of Fish and Game, cleared for agricultural annually. Miller continued to assigned to operate the sanctuary, began by use. protect the elk though he asked rounding up most of the free-roaming elk so that the herd be limited to 400 that about 140 elk were finally enclosed. PRESERVATION OF animals. With the help of the U.S. The sanctuary was a fairly good example of THE SPECIES Biological Survey, the California the natural habitat of free-roaming tule elk. In 1852 the State Legisla- Academy of Sciences, and others, The Buena Vista Slough along the sanctuary’s ture passed a law limiting Miller attempted to relocate elk to southern edge, with its rich growth of riparian elk hunting in specific public parks and zoos. Most of these vegetation, provided water.