Sacramento Valley Fox Survey

We have recently discovered (via genetic analyses of modern and historic museum specimens), contrary to conventional wisdom, that the red fox population in the Sacramento Valley is native and very closely related to the critically endangered Sierra Nevada red fox (Fig. 1). This is in stark contrast to red foxes in the Bay Area, southern California and even in the San Joaquin Valley as far north as Elk Grove, which are quite definitely nonnative. The preliminary evidence that the Sacramento Valley red fox is native was published in the journal Conservation Genetics in a paper primarily about the Sierra Nevada red fox. A confirmatory study has also been completed, to be published soon, which demonstrates unequivocally that the Sacramento Valley red fox is native.

Due to the long-held belief that the Sacramento Valley red fox was a nonnative pest, the population has received little study. Consequently, we know very little about its ecology, including its current distribution in the Valley, its habitat affinities, its reproductive capacity, or its overall status/health. The primary purposes of this web site are twofold: (1) to inform the general public of the fact that the Sacramento Valley red fox is native and therefore an integral part of the ecosystem worthy of our appreciation and conservation, (2) to solicit and obtain sighting reports and other useful information (e.g., historical information from long-time valley residents) from the public that can be used to preliminarily assess the current (and historical) distribution of these individuals in northern California.

Figure 1. Distribution of native and non-native red fox genotypes in California, 1905-2006 (Sacks and colleagues, unpublished data), illustrating apparent American River-Bay-Delta divide between native and nonnative valley red fox populations. Native specimens from the mountains are Sierra Nevada red fox; those from the valley are Sacramento Valley red fox.