From Recovery to Resilience: Ongoing Conservation of the Catalina Island Fox

From Recovery to Resilience: Ongoing Conservation of the Catalina Island Fox with Katie Elder, Wildlife Conservation Manager for the Catalina Island Conservancy Thursday, June 11, 2026, from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm The Catalina Island fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) is one of six subspecies of island fox endemic to California’s Channel Islands, and represents one of conservation’s biggest success stories. Following its near extinction in the late 1990s, the Catalina Island Conservancy has maintained a comprehensive recovery and monitoring program focused on long-term population health and stability. Learn about past and present efforts to protect and monitor this incredible species. Katie Elder is the current Wildlife Conservation Manager for the Catalina Island Conservancy, and was initially hired by the Conservancy in 2023 as the island fox biologist. She did her undergraduate work at Humboldt State University, where she received a BS degree in Wildlife Conservation Biology and Marine Biology. She completed her master's work at California Polytechnic State University, SLO, studying density-dependent island fox home range characteristics on Santa Rosa Island. She loves being a part of the island fox family!