# First Camera Trap Detection of a Gray Wolf Movement Into Nevada

## TL;DR

A gray wolf was camera-trapped in Nevada, marking its second confirmed sighting in the state since the 1920s and raising questions about its potential to establish in open, nonforested areas.

## Contribution

The first documented camera trap detection of a gray wolf in Nevada, offering new insight into its range expansion.

## Key findings

- A gray wolf was detected in northwest Nevada using an unbaited camera trap.
- This is the second confirmed sighting of a gray wolf in Nevada since the 1920s.
- The observation highlights the potential for wolves to expand into open, nonforested ecosystems.

## Abstract

Following gray wolf (
Canis lupus
) reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, USA, in the mid‐1990s, the species range has expanded into western Montana, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington. By 2011, wolves reached northern California and formed multiple packs within a decade of their arrival in the state. Gray wolf observations have been sporadic, however, in the comparatively open and nonforested ecosystems such as the nearby northern Great Basin. During a broad‐scale, camera‐trapping study, we detected a gray wolf on an unbaited camera trap in northwest Nevada. This observation represents the 2nd confirmed sighting of a gray wolf in the state of Nevada since the 1920s and the first documented camera trap detection for the species in the state. We discuss this observation in the context of historical gray wolf presence in Nevada and the potential for the species to establish in the northern Great Basin.

This photo of a gray wolf, captured in northern Nevada during a camera trapping survey, represents the second recorded sighting of the species in the state since extirpation. Wolf recolonization in western North America has generally followed forest cover and it remains undetermined whether the species can establish in steppe dominated regions like northern Nevada.