News Archive

Five orphaned black bear cubs that were rehabilitated and released into northern California in November 2025 successfully hibernated through the winter and returned to the landscape this spring healthy and active, according to recent data reviewed by CDFW) scientists.

The California red-legged frog, a federally threatened species absent from Yosemite National Park for decades, has made a significant comeback after 10 years of coordinated conservation work.

Scientists with the Wildlife Genetics Research Unit at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have completed a genomic study of nutria, an invasive South American rodent, linking their 2017 discovery in Merced County to a population in central Oregon.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is initiating efforts in northern California to capture deer, elk and wolves by helicopter and outfit the animals with GPS collars.

Recent results from white sturgeon monitoring surveys by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) suggest the white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) population has continued to decline. CDFW fisheries biologists now estimate there are approximately 6,500 white sturgeon between 40-60 inches long in California – down sharply from the previous estimate of approximately 30,000 fish in that size range, based on the 2016-2021 survey average.