As a World Heritage Site, Redwoods National and State Parks is rich with diverse wildlife, including 66 land mammal species, a variety of coastal and marine mammals ranging from river otters to seals to whales, 188 marine and  freshwater fish species, tidepool life, and at least 280 bird species. Redwood National Park is also exploring efforts to reintroduce the California condor, one of North America's most iconic and endangered birds, to their historic range within the park.

Roosevelt elk grazing in the meadow, Redwood National and State Parks / Rebecca Latson

Visit this mosaic of parks and you might see the famous Roosevelt elk, named after – you guessed it – President Theodore Roosevelt. Explore the tidepools and you’ll discover sea stars, anemones, and perhaps a crab or two. If you think banana slugs are cool, this is the place within which you might spot one.

Any meadow or prairie within the parks is a good place to view Roosevelt elk, one of the largest deer species on earth and the largest elk species in North America. One of the more well-known areas for possible elk sightings is the aptly-named Elk Meadow at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Remember to bring your binoculars or telephoto lens and remain at least 25 yards (75 ft/23 m) away from large wildlife like the elk. Wildlife in general is unpredictable, and elk are downright cranky during the rut season.

You might see an elk at Elk Meadow in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. Then again ... / Rebecca Latson

In addition to elk, the more common wildlife you may spot are black-tailed deer, chipmunks, and tree squirrels. You can download this mammal checklist to keep track of what you see.

Threatened And Endangered Species

According to park staff:

Redwood National and State Parks receive an official list from these regulatory agencies that identifies endangered, threatened, and candidate species that may be found in the parks. This list includes:

• Plants: 2 species
• Invertebrates: 2 species
• Fish: 6 species
• Reptiles (all sea turtles): 4 species
• Birds: 6 species
• Marine Mammals (Steller sea lion and 6 large whales): 7 species
• Terrestrial Mammals: 1 species

Of the 28 species listed, only the following are regularly found within the parks:

• Beach Layia (Layia carnosa)
• Coho, Chinook Salmon, and Steelhead (Oncorhynchus kisutch, O. tshawytscha, and O. mykiss)
• Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus)
• Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus)
• Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina)
• Steller Sea Lion (Eumatopias jubatus)
• Fisher (Pekania pennanti)

Two species have been extirpated within the parks:

• Tidewater Goby (Eucyclogobius newberryi)
• Eulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus)

Some species occur sporadically within the parks, such as:

• Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)
• Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Other species, including large mysticete whales, the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), sea turtles, and the Short-Tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus), occur very rarely and typically only when they stray from their normal ranges. Some species are listed because the parks contain potentially suitable habitats, but extensive surveys to confirm their presence have not yet been conducted.

Conservation Efforts in Redwood National and State Parks

The ESA’s ultimate goal is to recover species to a point where they no longer need protection under the law. Redwood National and State Parks contribute to this effort by:

• Protecting Suitable Habitats: Preserving areas essential for the survival of listed species.
• Protecting Individual Animals and Plants: Monitoring and safeguarding species from threats.
• Restoring Degraded Habitats: Enhancing fish and wildlife habitats to support recovery.

Birds

Depending upon which part of the park(s) you visit, you’ll see anything from a meadowlark in the meadows, a woodpecker or warbler in the coniferous forest, an American dipper standing in a creek, a heron or coot in the parks’ wetlands, pelicans along the beaches, or a scoter, grebe, or loon along the coastline or in the open ocean. You can download this bird checklist to help keep track of what you see.

Return Of The California Condor

Pray-go-neesh (California Condor), Redwood National and State Parks / NPS-Gavin Emmons

The Yurok word for the California condor is Pray-go-neesh. Redwoods National and State Parks was once this bird’s ancestral home. Fossils show California condors had a wide distribution in North America, including southern Canada, the eastern United States and south into Mexico. By the early 1900s, this largest soaring land bird on the continent was mostly gone due to several factors, including habitat loss when settlers moved in and started logging the land, poaching, decreased food sources due to big game hunting, and poisoning from lead ammunition fragments.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife state the California condor has been protected as an endangered species by federal law since 1967 and by California state law since 1971.

According to park staff:

In 1982 there were only twenty-two California condors left in the world. In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), with its public and private partners, began reintroducing captive-bred condors to the wild.

In 2003, the Yurok Tribe identified restoring California condors to Yurok Ancestral Territory as a top priority. In 2008, the Yurok Tribe wildlife program obtained a grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and began scientifically assessing the historical habitat for current suitability. It has been shown that this landscape still is a viable habitat for the condors. The Yurok Tribe is a full partner in this reintroduction effort.

A large group of agencies, tribal governments, wildlife societies, hunter as stewards programs, park partners, non-profit and private organizations collaborated to establish a condor release site in Redwood National Park. This become a reality in spring 2022 when an "experimental population" of (initially) five condors became part of the Redwood National and State Park's scenery, and eventually visitors' experience.

A similar experimental condor population was successfully established in Arizona's Vermillion Cliffs. Other condor populations were established at California's Big Sur, Pinnacles National Park, and at Hopper Mountain and Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuges.

By 2016, the proposed Redwood reintroduction effort was in the planning and early funding stage. This process moved forward with public input which began in early 2017. There were over a dozen public meetings in California and Oregon, and on-line and written ways for the public to provide input and feedback.

It took a year for the planning, public comments, meetings, and evaluations to be completed. The condor reintroduction plan was approved and that signing occurred in 2019. The formal announcement of the condors returning to the redwoods as an non-essential, experimental population was made in March 2021.  In March 2022, the first cohorts of Prey-go-neesh arrived in the redwoods. More have come - and more will be coming.

To read more about the California condor in the Pacific Northwest, click here.