Accessibility links
The Quest To Save The California Condor : Short Wave The California condor used to soar 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.

This past 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. (encore)

Check out the Yurok Tribe's condor live stream.

Analysis

Short Wave

The Quest To Save The California Condor

The Quest To Save The California Condor

Listen · 12:10
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1127125489/1200393507" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Enlarge this image

California condors huddle around a watering hole in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, California on June 21, 2017. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

California condors huddle around a watering hole in the Ventana Wilderness east of Big Sur, California on June 21, 2017.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

The California condor used to soar 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. This past 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. (encore)

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.