endangered species

Two congress members from the Central Coast and a senator from Oregon are calling for endangered species protections for the monarch butterfly. Western Monarch butterflies spend their winter months on the coast of California. They cling to eucalyptus trees in bright clusters of orange and black, but today very few can be found.

A 5-and-a-half month old California condor chick has taken flight in Pinnacles National Park. 

This endangered condor chick is the first to be successfully raised solely in the wild in more than 100 years. All other California condors have been raised with assistance from a condor rehabilitation program.

Condor Program Manager Rachel Wolstenholme said that staff at Pinnacles have been observing the remote nest since the bird hatched in February.

Nesting season for the endangered western snowy plover officially starts on March 1, which means portions of some Central Coast beaches will be closed for several months to come. 

The endangered California condor is having its best spring to date with at least 16 active nests identified statewide by biologists.

More than a third of those nests are within Pinnacles National Park in Monterey County, the park stated on its Facebook page. 

The range of the condor is big, including much of the Western United States and even a portion of Mexico. But, the endangered birds seem to be doing especially well along the Central Coast this year at Pinnacles.

An animal species unique to the Channel Islands could soon be removed from the federal Threatened and Endangered Species List.

Federal reports show four subspecies of the Island Fox found on six of the eight Channel Islands are making a remarkable comeback. As a result the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is initiating a review process to see if the animals should remain protected.

Experts say the recovery is the fastest population rebound recorded for any land mammal in the U.S. thanks to a robust restoration plan.