Beth Pratt-Bergstrom - When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California

The National Wildlife Federation and Heyday gratefully acknowledge the individuals and organizations whose generous contributions made this publication possible:

WILDLIFE HEROES

Jon Christensen

Susan Gottlieb To my husband, Dan, for his amazing generosity and willingness to support Beths important work.

David Crosby

WILDLIFE LEADERS

Furthermore: A Program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund

Dan and Debbie Gerber

Annemarie Hoffman I have firsthand experience of Beths love for and commitment to pikas and all the other natural wonders of Yosemite. Any opportunity we have to create healthy respect for, and cohabitation and cooperation with, the animal world is a moment blessed with grace.

Jerald and Madelyn Jackrel To Rebecca, for the beauty she shared with us all.

Charles and Doris Michaels For Marty and Denali Schmidt, who loved nature, the mountains, and wildlife.

Jeremy Railton

Steve and Rosemarie Smallcombe

Jerry Voight and Jean Burke Fordis To Beth, whose commitment to protecting wildlife inspires us each and every day.

WILDLIFE FRIENDS

William Akel, Kathi and George Colman and Family, Faith Hershiser, Susan Mokelke, Gebhard and Liana Neyer, Wayne and Brooke Schick, Melani Smith, Kim Monday, Christine and Stephan Volker, Lynn Wells

WILDLIFE SUPPORTERS

Geneva Adams, Susan Anding, Paula & Jason Archinaco, Katie Ballinger, Diana Barbee, Carolyn Barney Renee Bouche, Annette Catamec, Sandra Chamberlain, Coree Chandler, Adolfo de la Parra, Alice DeLaurier-ONeil, Pete and Sonni Devine, Tori-Ellen Dileo, Cynthia Dowd, Gordon Walt Ehmann, Diane Ellis, Paul Faulstich, Bridget Fithian, Tina Flores, Helene Frakes, Don Gadbois, Janette Gamble, Lauren Gill, Beth Glover, Susan Gonzalez, Ted Guzzi, Michael Hanrahan, Fiona Joy Hawkins, Brandy Hayes, Hildegarde Heidt, Janet Hoben, Charles Hodgkins, Candi Hubert, Florence Jeong, Brad Jones, Christian Kasperkovitz, Jacqueline Keller, Sebastian Kennerknecht, Bruce Kern, Laurie Koc, Bill Leikam, Victor Levine, Lawrence Litvak, Rue Mapp, Jane Medley, Gail Metcalf, Michelle Morro, John Mott, Bob Myers, Chris Nitz, Keymi Ordenana, Richard Peters, Adarsh Raju, Cynthia Ramaciotti, Patricia Ray, Mary Renaker, Kathryn Riley, Robert Rogers, Sacred Rok, Bryan Rulli, Brad Rumble, Jenn Schilling, Pat Sigler, Daniel Skorcz, Angel Sprague, Dana Stangel, Clark Stevens, Georgia Stigall, Tamara Tamburro, Kristin Tieche, Nancy Vandermey, Holly Warner, Marc Weigensberg, Tom Wetherell, Betsy Wood

Proceeds from the sale of this book directly benefit the NWFs wildlife conservation work in California.
www.nwf.org/california

PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE WORKING IT OUT
IN CALIFORNIA

Beth Pratt-Bergstrom

Foreword by Collin OMara

Heyday, Berkeley, California
The National Wildlife Federation, Reston, Virginia

2016 by the National Wildlife Federation/Beth Pratt-Bergstrom

All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Heyday.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pratt-Bergstrom, Beth. | National Wildlife Federation.

Title: When mountain lions are neighbors : people and wildlife working it out
in California / Beth Pratt-Bergstrom.

Description: Berkeley, California : Heyday ; Reston, Virginia : National
Wildlife Federation, [2016] | Berkeley, CA : [Distributed by] Heyday

Identifiers: LCCN 2015043694 (print) | LCCN 2015044823 (ebook) | ISBN
9781597143462 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781597143486 (kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Wildlife habitat improvement--California. | Wildlife
conservation--California. | Human-animal relationships--California. |
Urban animals--California. | Suburban animals--California. | Wildlife
crossings--California.

Classification: LCC QL84.22.C2 P73 2016 (print) | LCC QL84.22.C2 (ebook) |
DDC 333.95/409794--dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043694

Front cover Photo: Steve Winter. View his work at www.stevewinterphoto.com.

Back cover photos from top: Rebecca Abbey, Karl Frankowski, Steve Winter, Robert E. Riggins, National Park Service

Book Design: Rebecca LeGates

Poem on page 41 2016 Nick Asbury, used with permission.

Orders, inquiries, and correspondence should be addressed to:

Heyday

P.O. Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 549-3564, Fax (510) 549-1889
www.heydaybooks.com

FOR P-22

P-22 roaming Griffith Park in 2016.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 A Mountain Lion in Hollywoodland: Can People and
Wildlife Coexist in the Second-Largest City in the Nation?

CHAPTER 3 Keeping Bears Wild: How Staff and Visitors in
Yosemite National Park Help Wildlife

CHAPTER 4 Friending Wildlife: The Facebook Foxes and
Wildlife Corridors in Silicon Valleys High-Tech World

CHAPTER 5 The Incredible Journey: California Welcomes
Back Wolves after Ninety Years

Good Neighbors: What Californians Are Doing for Wildlife
in Their Own Backyards

There is a wildness in California still.It does not exist only within those areas designated as wilderness or national parks, but also in the back blocksthe hinterland of lands that are otherwise used for other purposes. There is a feeling that back beyond the next ridge there is still wild country. And even beyond that there is an invasion of the wild into the tame that for some of us brings feelings of security.Raymond Dasmann, Wild California: Vanishing Lands, Vanishing Wildlife

What is the message that wild animals bring, the message that seems to say everything and nothing? What is this message that is wordless, that is nothing more or less than the animals themselvesthat the world is wild, that life is unpredictable in its goodness and its danger, that the world is larger than your imagination?Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost

A peregrine falcon hunting in the sky above San Jose City Hall in search of prey. A porpoise swimming near Alcatraz. Sandhill cranes dancing in the Central Valley. A golden eagle soaring high above roadrunners and plovers in Panoche Valley. Sea lions and brown pelicans hanging out by the pier in Santa Cruz. A sea otter cracking open a clam on his chest in Monterey Bay. A small pika scurrying as hikers approach in Yosemite. An elusive mountain lion stranded in Griffith Park. Millions of monarch butterflies migrating up the Pacific Coast Highway.

This is my California.

Wildlife may not typically be the first thing that folks think of when they hear the word California, but throughout the nearly three years I lived out West I was amazed by the diversity of wildlife permeating every corner of the state. It wasnt what I was expecting.

When I was moving to the Bay Area in 2006, friends and family relayed wonderful stories about trips to San Francisco or Disneyland. They told tales about the horrors of Los Angeles traffic, their glimpses of movie stars in Malibu, or their confusion as they tried to find Silicon Valley on a map. Few of these tales included wildlife.