NEWS RELEASE
Sept. 5, 2025
VERMILION CLIFFS, Ariz. – Partners in Arizona-Utah California Condor conservation, including the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), will gather to celebrate Public Lands Day on Saturday, Sept. 27, by witnessing five new members of the Arizona-Utah flock of endangered California condors take to the sky for the first time.
This year’s event, hosted by The Peregrine Fund and the Bureau of Land Management, marks its 29th anniversary and will again feature an in-person celebration at the condor viewing site in the valley below the release pen, as well as a livestream of the release on the Peregrine Fund’s YouTube channel.
The five new condors, hatched and raised at the Oregon Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, are healthy and ready to join the flock. Their release marks a return to normalcy for The Peregrine Fund’s Condor Release and Management Facility, which evacuated two resident “mentor condors” and one rehabilitating condor during the White Sage Fire. The captive birds were moved from the clifftop flight pen to a safe location below. The wild flock members stayed safe by avoiding the area entirely.
“Most of the condors take up residence in the Utah high country during the summer where there is ample food, so overall impact to their normal activity was minimal,” said Tim Hauck, The Peregrine Fund’s California condor program director. “There also didn’t happen to be any active nest locations near the fire, which would have posed a risk to young birds that cannot yet fly.”
There is one way that the wild condors are being affected by the fire – North Rim closures mean less traffic on Highway 67, leading to less roadkill for the birds to scavenge. Because of this, condors are likely to look in new areas for food and drivers may encounter them in unexpected locations.
“We remind folks to be aware of these big birds when traveling in condor country,” said Hauck. “On occasion, they will feed on the shoulder where roadkill often ends up.”
With the smoke now clearing, care is back to normal at the Condor Release and Management Facility. That means focusing on the most persistent threat to endangered condors and their leading diagnosed cause of death: Lead poisoning.
Studies suggest that lead shot and bullet fragments found in animal carcasses and gut piles are the most likely source of lead exposure. To help combat this, AZGFD runs a lead reduction program, offering lead-free ammunition to anyone hunting in condor country.
“This year’s hunters are very engaged in this conservation program and have been requesting lead-free ammo for their upcoming hunts,” said Erin Brown, AZGFD lead reduction program coordinator. “Having hunters on board is so essential because lead poisoning is population-limiting for these birds and one of the main challenges to reaching a self-sustaining population.”
This will be just the second release since the deadly avian influenza outbreak in 2023 that killed 20% of the Arizona-Utah flock and kept any new birds from being released that year. With 24 birds successfully released in 2024 and five more set to take flight in September, the new infusion of valuable genetic diversity will be vital to the recovery of this flock.
For details on attending the event in person or watching the livestream, visit The Peregrine Fund’s event page.
The Arizona-Utah California condor conservation effort is a cooperative program by federal, state, and private partners, including The Peregrine Fund, the Bureau of Land Management’s Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, and the Bureau of Land Management in Utah (BLM), Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Kaibab and Dixie National Forests, and tribes (Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians [Kaibab-Paiute Tribe] and Navajo Nation), among many other supporting groups and individuals.
Learn more about condor recovery efforts and the non-lead initiative.