Half a million tule elk once roamed California’s marshes and grasslands, but the Gold Rush ushered in commercial hunting and agricultural practices that devastated both the animals and their habitat. In 1874, only a single pair was seen in the tule marshes on the Kern County ranch of Miller and Lux, where cattleman Henry Miller helped protect them. Their numbers gradually increased, and legislation created a sanctuary here in 1932, though it was too small for the expanding herd. A relocation program then moved elk to other suitable sites, and the reserve continues to help establish other free-roaming herds across California. The tule elk’s recovery from near extinction became a major wildlife management success. Tule elk are members of the deer family, with split hoofs and antlers, and are the smallest, most specialized, and most range-restricted of the North American elk. They are the only elk native only to California, and after once nearly disappearing, about 4,000 now live in 22 herds statewide.