There was a time in 1982 when the world population of California condors dipped to 22 and they were all placed in a captive breeding program in a dire bid to stave off extinction. More than four decades later, recovery efforts have reached a new milestone with 607 California condors in the world last year. That number includes 392 in the wild, according to a report by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Maria Montag is president of Friends of California Condors Wild and Free, the official nonprofit of the USFWS Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge north of Fillmore, and Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge near the Ventura/Kern county line.
“They’re North America’s largest land bird, which makes them special. There’s only 607 of them in the world, so they’re critically endangered. They’re endemic to California. Before the recovery program was up, the last condors were here in this Santa Barbara, Ventura, Kern (county) area, so we were their last-stand area,” Montag told the Ventura County Reporter…