The Quest To Save The California Condor
On May 3, 2022, a partnership led by the Yurok Tribe released two California condors, called A2 and A3, into the wild as part of a decades-long conservation effort." Matt Mais/Yurok Tribe hide caption
On May 3, 2022, a partnership led by the Yurok Tribe released two California condors, called A2 and A3, into the wild as part of a decades-long conservation effort."
Matt Mais/Yurok TribeHistorically, the California condor soared across the western skies of North America. But by the 1980s, the bird was on the edge of extinction — just 22 remained.
Thanks to decades of conservation work, the California condor population has rebounded to a couple hundred birds in Central California and Arizona. And this May, a large partnership led by the Yurok Tribe re-introduced the birds to Northern California.
Today, host Aaron Scott talks to Yurok biologist Tiana Williams-Claussen about the years-long quest to return the birds to their ancestral skies, and the importance of condor — who the Yurok call Prey-go-neesh — to the Yurok people and the natural world.
Check out the Yurok Tribe's condor live stream.
This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez, edited by Gabriel Spitzer and fact-checked by Rachel Carlson.