Tribe, ‘de-extinction’ company partner to reintroduce California condors to Idaho
Idaho residents may have a glimpse of the past when they look to the skies thanks to a partnership between a local tribe and a “de-extinction” company that plans to reintroduce a species that has not been seen in the wild in the state in centuries.
The Nez Perce Tribe received a $500,000 grant from the Colossal Foundation to reintroduce California condors to Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border.
The foundation is the nonprofit arm of Colossal, a company that made headlines – and drew criticism – earlier this year when it said it restored dire wolves, a species of canines that went extinct around 13,000 years ago. The company created genetically modified gray wolves that have copies of dire wolf DNA, which, along with its description of itself as a “de-extinction” company, prompted debate over the feasibility of reviving extinct species.
Condors, which are protected as a critically endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, have been absent from Idaho and much of their historic range since the early 1800s, according to the National Park Service. They are currently found only in parts of California, Utah, Arizona and Baja California.
Matt James, executive director of the Colossal Foundation and chief animal officer with Colossal Biosciences, told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that the funding was part of Colossal’s Species Reintroduction Fund, an effort to restore species to their former habitats.
James said Colossal already had a relationship with the Nez Perce through the company’s Indigenous Council when the foundation heard about the tribe’s condor reintroduction plan from Eric Kash Kash, who directs the tribe’s Wildlife Division.
“We said, ‘Well, you should probably apply to this, because that sounds right up our alley,’ ” James recalled.
In a news release, Kash Kash said the condors, which the tribe calls qú’nes, have shared the landscape with the Nez Perce “since time immemorial.”
“Its return represents both ecological restoration and spiritual renewal for our people and the land,” Kash Kash said. “Our partnership with the Colossal Foundation honors our sovereignty and our enduring connection to our homeland as we fulfill our sacred responsibility to restore balance by bringing a relative home.”
The Nez Perce Tribe has led other species restoration efforts in Idaho, including spearheading gray wolf reintroduction in the 1990s. The tribe’s wildlife division has spent nearly a decade researching efforts to determine an ideal area to reintroduce condors.
“Our traditional knowledge told us this was a home for qú’nes, and our scientific assessments have confirmed it,” said Aaron Miles, director of natural resources for the tribe, in the news release. “Hells Canyon is ready to welcome them back.”
Colossal’s news release said Hells Canyon, which is the deepest gorge in North America, offers abundant food for the apex scavengers, as well as room for soaring and low chance of interaction with humans.
James said there is significant preparation that will need to take place before birds are put on the landscape. The $500,000 grant will be paid out over 10 years.
“Hells Canyon is ancestral condor habitat, but it hasn’t seen condors in a long time, so you’ve got to make sure all the key pieces are around in order to support condors on that habitat,” James said.
He said birds likely won’t be released in the area for several more years, and they will come from the Yurok Native American tribe in California. The Yurok work with the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other conservation partners on condor reintroduction, management and captive breeding.
James said working with the Nez Perce on the reintroduction effort is a full-circle moment for him.
“When I was a young conservationist, the California condor work was really one of those sort of flagship projects,” James said. “Everybody thought, ‘Wow, how cool would it be to one day to be able to work on that project?’ ”