CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 37 



HISTORY OF THE YOSEMITE ELK HERD 



By James Moffitt 



All photographs courtesy of National Park Service 



Some of the hundreds of thousands, more properly millions, of 

 visitors to Yosemite National Park during the past twelve seasons may, 

 upon returning- next year or later, wonder what has become of the 

 elk herd that ranged the meadow near Yosemite Lodge. To answer this 

 question and also to put on record the planting, success and final 

 departure of the herd from the valley is tlie purpose of this ]iaper. 



This elk was first recognized as being different from other jSTorth 

 American elk in November, 1904, by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, then Chief 

 of the U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey, and was described by him 

 as a distinct species in February, 1905 (Proc. Biol. 8oc. Wash., vol. 18, 

 1905, pp. 23-26). Merriam called this animal Cervus nannodes, or the 

 dwarf elk. It is also variously known as the California valley elk, 

 valley elk, tule elk and dwarf wapiti. 



The first attempt to transplant valley elk was made in November, 

 1904, by the Biological Survey under Dr. Merriam 's personal direc- 

 tion. In this year, a single calf was introduced into Sequoia National 

 Park, but the following season 20 elk were successfully planted there 

 (Merriam, C. H., The Scientific Monthly, Nov. 1921, pp. 465-475). 



In 1914, a group of California naturalists and sportsmen concerned 

 themselves with the status of the California valley elk. At that time 

 but a single herd estimated at 400 individuals existed on the Button- 

 willow Ranch of Miller and Lux in Kern County. The danger of 

 "keeping all your eggs in one basket," so to speak, was apparent, for 

 if disease or some other factor exterminated this herd the species would 

 become extinct. The late Dr. Barton Warren Evermann, then Director 

 of the California Academy of Sciences, and M. Hall McAllister, present 

 Chairman of this institution 's Committee for the Conservation of AVild 

 Animal Life, were the fathers of a movement to rectify this ])recarious 

 condition. Briefly, a plan was adopted to catch and distribute to 

 several favorable localities scattered over the State, a portion of the 

 Kern County elk herd. This was accom]ilished in the years 1914 and 

 1915 with the cooperation of Miller and Lux, Inc., and the California 

 Academy of Sciences. In 1914 the academy distributed 54 animals to 

 seven areas as recorded in Dr. Evermann 's interesting article on the 

 subject in California F'ish and Game (vol. 1. pp. 85-96). The follow- 

 ing year 92 elk were introduced into 14 additional localities (Evermann, 

 California Fish and Game, vol. 2, pp. 70-77). Twelve of these 

 animals were sent to Del Paso Park at Sacramento. 



These plantings constituted fulfillment of the academy's original 

 program. M. Hall McAllister, co-leader in the venture with Dr. Ever- 

 mann, however, always cherished the desire that a planting might also 

 be made in Yosemite Valley. The first concrete move in this dii-ection 

 seems to have occurred on December 26, 1918, when McAllister and the 



