California is saving the cougars, but the US is not saving their homes

By Tiffany Yap, especially for CalMatters

This comment was originally posted by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Guest Comment written by

We do not know the exact cause male mountain lion known as 157M wandered into the heart of San Francisco in January.

When I walked out of my apartment in Japantown this morning and caught a glimpse of him through my binoculars, all I could think about was how tiny his home territory had become and that he was running out of space.

Two weeks later, the California Fish and Game Commission provided protection for mountain lions in Southern California and the Central Coast under the state Endangered species act. This could mean great things for cougars like 157M.

But these protections are not a panacea. Mountain lions will still fall victim to the speeding cars on highways that cut into their habitat. And they will still struggle to find suitable mates, especially in places like the Santa Monica Mountains, where the local threat of extinction is severe.

Still, the committee’s actions are a ray of hope. At a time when the federal government is destroying environmental protections, the state providing protection for our most endangered mountain lions is a form of resistance. It’s a showcase of what conservation can look like in the Golden State.

The federal tide is turning to embrace fossil fuels and corporate profits. California turns to environmental science and preserves our natural heritage.

Protecting cougars doesn’t just help one species. Mountain lions go where other wildlife goes. When we care for their habitat, we help bears, lynxes, birds of prey, badgers, songbirds and beetles.

one study found that cougars can influence and support about 485 species.

With California’s protection, there is a legal mandate for state agencies to protect six endangered cougar populations. This means that future road construction and development projects need to be evaluated how they can block important connectivity areas and isolate mountain lions.

These new protections are also encouraging state wildlife officials to create a recovery plan, a road map to bring cougars back from the brink of extinction.

The plan can identify areas most important to restoring wildlife connectivity, such as in Coyote Valley, where Highway 101 and related development present a fortified barrier to animal movement between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Mountains.

A recovery road map may also include strategies to further limit the use of the most toxic rat poisons, which cause serious harm to cougars despite existing bans.

Hopefully, the defenses will bring more awareness and resources to strategies for coexistence and thoughtful conflict resolution.

More funding and more science is needed to make the landscape safer for wildlife and livestock. Helping our rural neighbors protect their cattle and sheep can prevent devastation and financial loss while protecting cougars.

Recognizing the cougar’s plight and taking steps to prevent extinction are all about coexistence. This does not mean we value animals over humans. Coexistence means that communities can grow and thrive, leaving plenty of room for our wild neighbors to do the same.

Getting support from the California Fish and Game Commission was the key first step. Now we need to create and implement a successful recovery plan. It won’t be easy and may take years or decades to come to fruition. But in California we can do hard things.

If a cougar can navigate a metropolis like San Francisco, we may find a way to limit the extinction crisis, one species at a time. It could start with mountain lions.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.