We take a deeper look at the battle between Sierraville ranchers and wild wolves.
Last year, Sierra Valley ranchers were dealt one of the worst hands imaginable.
"Last year was terrible," said Rick Roberti, Sierra Valley rancher. "I relate it to COVID—when we went through COVID, everything was just confusing. Every day was hard, and people were getting hurt every day. And yet there weren't any solutions. There weren't any answers."
Sierra Valley is in northern California. The south side of the valley is Sierra County, and the north side is Plumas County.
Almost 100 livestock animals were killed last year by gray wolves, causing many ranchers to lose significant amounts of money, most of which occurred in Sierra County.
Specifically, it was three wolves from the Beyem Seyo pack that did most of the killings.
The gray wolves are an endangered species protected under both federal and state laws.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the wolves had disappeared from the state about 100 years ago and naturally migrated back in 2011.
If someone were to kill one, they could face six months to a year in jail.
Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher says last year put a lot of stress on ranchers.
"We had ranchers out 24/7 range riding," the sheriff said. "They were sleep-deprived. We dealt with chronic stress. We dealt with mental health issues."
The CDFW and local law enforcement used many deterrent efforts, such as drones, diversionary feeding, and a 24-hour presence for a few months.
Since operations were not successful, the department killed the three wolves and, in the process, accidentally killed a young wolf that was mistaken for an older breeding male.
Once the wolves were gone, reprieve was finally felt.
"And I want that to be clear because a lot of people say, 'Oh, well, it was a vacuum, and there are more wolves,'" said Paul Roen, Sierra Valley rancher and chair of the Sierra County Board of Supervisors. "Well, there are more wolves, but there's good wolves and bad wolves. The three that were here were unbelievably bad. And the minute those were removed, the killings immediately stopped."
Roen's property had the most kills in the entire valley. The wolves' den was near his ranch, and he is one of the largest producers in the valley.
However, the chance for everyone to catch their breath seems not to have lasted long.
There were a few months with no kills recorded, but last Saturday, the Wine Glass Ranch was the latest to be hit.
"I heard the cows make a lot of noise, which isn't good," said Dwight Ceresola, Sierra Valley rancher.
Ceresola is a rancher on the north side of the valley. He woke up in the middle of the night around 10:30 p.m.
He found a dead pregnant ewe and a dead female sheep on his property.
Ceresola says the average price for an ewe is $2,488.84. Since it was pregnant with a male, the value is even higher.
The rancher didn't just lose money; he also lost plenty of sleep in the process.
"You're up off and on all night," Ceresola said. "You hear something strange, you hear your dogs barking, and you get up. You don't get a lot of sleep since the wolf attacks."
"Having the wolves now coming back into the valley and having kills, we're going to be looking at a public safety issue as it relates to PTSD," Sheriff Fisher said.
It's been a while since wolves came through his ranch.
It was about five years ago when two livestock were killed.
Since then, Ceresola has bought donkeys and horned cows to help scare off the wolves and coyotes.
"The cows, especially the horned cows, that is a defensive weapon," he said. "The donkeys they bite, they kick, and they strike."
One of the reasons ranchers fear the resurgence of wolves is that there are already other predators, such as mountain lions, bears, and coyotes, in the valley, which limit the available food sources.
"There's some deer that stay here, but there's not a lot of them," Ceresola said. "So the food source is us again."
Sheriff Fisher says the county will look for conservation efforts to increase the elk and deer population and will also do wildfire mitigation to preserve its timber.
The CDFW installed turbo fladry, which is supposed to shock wolves when they come in close contact with it.
The biggest issue with this deterrent method is that it is only short-term. It's expected to last 90 days, so ranchers are looking for more long-term solutions to eradicate the problem.
Sheriff Fisher says he wants action sooner rather than later.
"If we're able to get in there immediately, and when I say immediately, like within the next week to week and a half and start hazing these wolves before the cattle get here, I think that we have a much better chance of stopping them from becoming habituated," he said.
Ranchers have one method they think would work best.
"The only deterrent is to make the wolves respect you," Roberti said. "And that means they have got to be scared of you. And we can't do that in California yet."
Right now, only the CDFW can legally haze the wolves. These include methods such as using rubber bullets or setting off loud explosions near them to get them away.
Now that there is no state presence, ranchers would like to take more matters into their own hands.
"It takes both federal and state buy-in. What I offered the Department of Fish and Wildlife was the capacity to conduct the training locally here through my agency," Sheriff Fisher said.
Many ranchers have issues with the CDFW.
"That's part of the problem here," Ceresola said. "We're trying to work with you, and you're trying to treat us like a little kid in the corner, and we're tired of it."
Some ranchers say with former CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham stepping down, things might change.
Sheriff Fisher and Roen were in Sacramento this week asking for more funding, since many ranchers have spent thousands of dollars on gear and protection.
The CDFW offered compensation for folks with lost livestock, but checks are taking a while to come out.
"Losses that happened in April, May, and June are just now being paid," Ceresola said. "And that's after pushing hard. 'Oh, we lost that report. We lost that report.' We have copies of our reports. We're sending them in."
We reached out to the CDFW for more answers.
They answered my first email and asked what I would be asking about. Since then, after multiple follow-ups, no response has been given at this time.
While no wolves have attacked any humans yet in the valley, ranchers say the wolves are only growing more comfortable being around them.
"How many then can they attack before it's bad?" Ceresola said. "One? Two? We're talking families here."
"I'm not saying they're going to run around trying to eat people, but I'm saying when they're, you know, when they're in your communities, and they're not scared or worried by human contact, that's a problem," Roen said.
While we highlighted the Sierra Valley, Sheriff Fisher says wolf kills are happening as well in many other counties in Northern California.
The gray wolves are protected as an endangered species under state and federal law.
