At almost every condor program I've given in the past two years, someone has come up to me after the meeting to tell me they had just seen condors in Arizona. The Rainbow Cliffs release is obviously popular with folks who want to see my favorite birds. Funny, I was opposed to that release site when it was proposed, and I still have my doubts about it. Partly, it's my "purist" streak coming to the surface: Why put California condors in an area that hasn't had condors since the end of the Pleistocene, when paleo-botanists tell us northern Arizona looked more like the central California savannahs than Monument Valley, and (until their extinction) many large mammal species provided abundant food? Partly it's practical: How can a condor population be sustained in that arid country without long term, high intensity management, including regular supplemental feeding? I realize the effort is considered "experimental," but why experiment so far from Recent condor habitat?
I didn't like the idea of Baja California releases, either. Besides the aridity and lack of a logical food source on the Peninsula, it has seemed impossible to me that the birds could be adequately protected there. The Mexican Government has almost no biological or wildlife law enforcement people in northern Baja California, and it hasn't seemed a place where logistically you could have a regular supply of supplemental food available, or a regular cadre of field people (like peregrine "nest guards") who could keep a consistent eye on the condors.
Despite local problems, I think all the California releases are good ones. They involve recently occupied (since 1900) condor habitat, within which the birds have a good chance of becoming naturalized and eventually fending for themselves with minimal management. Also, these release sites are in areas where it is no problem to get the help one needs to manipulate and monitor the local populations.
It looks like the condor breeding facilities will have no trouble producing a steady supply of condors for release, and there is already talk of future release sites. I have a few suggestions that might bear looking into.
1. Central San Luis Obispo County, California - This area was used by nesting condors as recently as the 1970s, and there are a number of different known and potential nest sites. The area is relatively isolated, has excellent nearby foraging area, and easy management. It is probably far enough from release sites to the north and south that birds from those areas would no readily pioneer into this region.
2. Mt. St. Helena area, Napa and Sonoma counties, California - This is probably the most interesting and extensive rocky area north of Monterey County. There are a number of condor records from the area. No nests were found here, but I bet they existed. Few collectors or naturalists worked this area until after 1900, when condors were likely gone from the North Bay area. Although the human population is expanding in both these counties, there is still considerable rangeland, with deer, livestock, and some tule elk. Some of the rock areas are very difficult to access, even though not far from human habitation. One such location includes The Palisades and Table Rock, north of Calistoga.
3. Mt. Diablo-Mt. Hamilton-Rocky Ridge area, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, California - This may be becoming too much part of the Bay Area megalopolis, but there are a number of isolated rocky areas, and there are still extensive grasslands (but not as much livestock as there used to be). I suspect there were condors nesting in this area, although the closest positive nesting was just south in San Benito County.
4. Laytonville-Covelo area, Mendocino County, California - There is good isolated rangeland in this area, with some livestock and many deer. There is some rock and there are redwood trees for possible nesting, but I am not familiar enough with the area to know how much rock there is. There are no certain historical records of condors in this area, but it was seldom visited pre-1900 by anyone likely to note their presence.
5. Bridgeville-Kneeland Mountain area, Humboldt County, California - Condors were seen and collected in this area in the 1800s, and I suspect they were resident somewhere in the vicinity. There is some rock and many redwood trees. Extensive grassland and savannah have abundant sheep, deer and elk populations. It is not far from the coast where marine mammals would be available for food. I've never credited that spawned out salmonids were an important source of condor food, but there are large numbers of them seasonally along the nearby Eel and Van Duzen rivers.
6. Bald Hills-Orick-Klamath and Trinity rivers area, Humboldt County, California - Like the Bridgeville-Kneeland area, this area has an excellent mix of open range and redwood forest, well stocked with elk, deer and livestock, and near the Pacific Ocean beaches. Jedediah Smith saw condors in this area in 1828, and most of the Native American groups nearby have strong cultural and religious ties to the condors.
7. Kalmiopsis Wilderness-Chetco and Rogue rivers area, Curry and Josephine counties, Oregon - I'm not very familiar with this area, but others have suggested it to me as a possible condor release area. It is a vast mountainous area. Some photos I have seen of the Kalmiopsis remind me of the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, although I didn't see any extensive areas of rock such as in the Sespe-Piru area.
8. Umpqua River area around Drain and Sutherland, Douglas County, Oregon - The last (probably authentic) condor record in Oregon came from this area and, on the basis of miscellaneous other records, I think this is one of the most likely places for condors to have nested in Oregon. The Umpqua area has extensive oak savannah with deer, elk and livestock, and is relatively unpeopled. There is some rock in the area, along the Umpqua River, and also (toward the coast) some old-growth conifers that might provide nest sites.
9. Columbia Gorge, Multnomah and Wasco counties, Oregon - There are more verified records of California condors along the lower Columbia River than anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest. This is in part due to the great number of scientists and naturalists who visited this area in the early 1800s, more than were found in other parts of western Oregon during that time period. There are a number of winter and spring records of condors, the time of year that one would expect condors to be near their nesting habitat. There is abundant rock in the Columbia Gorge, with caves that could have been used as nest sites. There is much open rangeland just east of the Gorge, beyond Hood River and The Dalles.