Scientists Excited as California's Elusive Foxes Survived the Dixie Fire

Red fox - an evasive species - can only be discovered at high altitudes, in Sierra Nevada's rough path and Southern Cascade Ranges of Oregon and California. Humans hardly encounter these foxes, and experts think that there are less than 100 of them.

Sierra Nevada Red Foxes Survived the Dixie Fire

In July, when the Dixie Fire first started wildlife biologists observed the situation in fear as extremely dry conditions and serious winds made the fire engulf what would become close to 1 million acres.

Jennifer Carlson, an environmental scientist continuously checked for the latest information on where the four collared Sierra Nevada red foxes are.

Carlson was afraid of the worst as the fire intensified within Lassen and the Caribou Wilderness. Her fear was that the coordinates would not arrive, or that they would show one or more of the foxes were no longer moving.

But not too long after the fire had moved through, the biologists got new information regarding the whereabouts of the fox.

The crew was especially concerned about a mother dubbed Tule among the four Sierra Nevada red foxes. She lives in the Caribou Wilderness, which was ravaged by the fire, and had just built a den and given birth to two puppies.

The other collared foxes may be seen in the Mount Lassen area. The scientists could only watch and wait, even though the less vegetated region seemed unlikely to catch fire.

Features of Red Fox

Before 1937, when Joseph Grinnell's "Fur-bearing Mammals of California" first documented the already scarce canid, nothing was known about the fox.

Grinnell described the Sierra Nevada red fox as rich, fiery reddish, with a thick brush of a tail abruptly and strikingly tipped with white heavy underfur and long thin overhair.

Others who had seen the foxes described them as the wildest untamed animals, very elegant in their running and appearing to be comprised of some light element slightly heavier than air.

The hair on their feet grows out in the winter, concealing the toe and heel pads and covering any imprints, making it harder to track the foxes.

However, they remain active all year, hunting rodents, birds, and hares while evading predators such as golden eagles. Despite the fact that foxes prefer to hunt at night and sleep during the day, scientists have shown that they may be adaptable and opportunistic.

Exploitation of the Foxes

Fur trappers attacked foxes for their pelts until 1974, when it was made illegal, but the fox population never recovered.

The few instances that Pete Figura, a wildlife management supervisor has seen foxes in the wild have been thrilling for him, since he has been involved in collaring activities for many years.

Figura explains the animals have managed to survive in a harsh environment for a long time, and at extremely low population numbers.

There were some promising breakthroughs about foxes in the decade preceding up to the Dixie Fire. An individual was seen on a wildlife camera in the Stanislaus National Forest near the Sonora Pass in 2010, a region where the species had been supposed to have been eradicated a century previously.

Prior to that finding, experts thought there were only around 20 Sierra Nevada red foxes on the planet, all of which lived in the Lassen region. Because of their small number, they were excessively Inbred. The finding in the Stanislaus National Forest sparked expectations for a new population of foxes with genetic diversity that might aid in the species' recovery.

In Lassen Volcanic National Park, scientists caught six Sierra Nevada red foxes in 2018, enabling them to obtain blood samples, collar the animals, and follow them electronically.

The information aided researchers in gaining a better understanding of the foxes' home area, denning habits, and reproductive biology.

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