The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has started a process to evaluate California\u2019s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program (WLCP).<\/p>\n
On Monday, Feb. 23, 2026,\u00a0CDFW held\u00a0a workshop\u00a0with a\u00a0group of\u00a0stakeholder\u00a0representatives\u00a0focused on\u00a0how best to assess the program\u00a0to\u00a0inform potential adjustments to future\u00a0applications\u00a0and funding opportunities.<\/p>\n
The purpose of the workshop was to identify a transparent and collaborative process for evaluating the existing WLCP. The discussion marked the first step in gathering input and perspectives from key stakeholder groups involved in livestock production, wolf conservation, research and government agencies.<\/p>\n
CDFW recognizes that the WLCP affects a wide range of interests. Participants were selected based on their\u00a0previous\u00a0involvement in the development of the program, their authority and\u00a0expertise, and their roles\u00a0representing\u00a0multiple interested and affected\u00a0stakeholders. During the workshop, attendees helped\u00a0identify\u00a0an evaluation process designed to ensure transparency while providing opportunities for public review and input.<\/p>\n
Invited participants included representatives from the California Farm Bureau, California Cattlemen\u2019s Association, Western Landowners Alliance, California Wool Growers Association, Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC), University of California Cooperative Extension, University of California, Berkeley, Defenders of Wildlife, the California Wolf Foundation, the\u00a0California\u00a0Center for Biological Diversity, Working Circle, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n
CDFW will continue working with\u00a0these groups\u00a0and the public as the evaluation process moves forward.<\/p>\n
Since its\u00a0inception\u00a0as a pilot program in 2021, CDFW\u2019s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program has paid out more than $3.5 million to livestock producers whose operations have been\u00a0impacted\u00a0by the return of gray wolves to California.<\/p>\n
For more information about the evaluation process,\u00a0timeline\u00a0and opportunities to\u00a0participate\u00a0please visit\u00a0CDFW\u2019s Wolf Livestock Compensation Grants webpage.<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has started a process to evaluate California\u2019s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-515879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}