Point Reyes National Seashore’s Tule Elk Design by Mark Hougardy

For eight years the Point Reyes National Seashore Association produced park stores items from Mark Hougardy’s Tule Elk image. An updated version of the image is shown. For thousands of years, vast numbers of tule elk thrived in the grasslands of central and coastal California. In the mid-1800s, following the gold rush, uncontrolled market hunting and rapid agricultural development nearly drove them to extinction. They were gone from the Point Reyes area by the 1860s. In 1874, the last surviving tule elk (possibly as few as two individuals) were discovered and protected in the southern San Joaquin Valley. Tule elk were reintroduced to Point Reyes National Seashore in 1978. Since then, the elk have grown from 10 animals to nearly 500. There are two separate herds of tule elk at Point Reyes, one in a reserve and one free-roaming herd. The reintroduction of this free-ranging herd is an important step in the ecological restoration in the park.