Mountain Lion Foundation Newsletter - Issue 3 Vol 1

Saving America’s Lion Mountain Lion Foundation Newsletter

Issue 3 Vol 1—Winter 2022

SEEING LIONS MORE CLEARLY My great hope in 2022 will be to help policymakers and community members throughout cougar country see mountain lions more clearly. Because America’s lion is so elusive, it can be a challenge to even count them precisely, or to bring into focus the threats they face.

Through a lens of fear, the risks they pose to people and our animals can be distorted.

The effects of fuzzy data can be dramatic. In Oregon this year, MLF staff and members objected to hunting regulations on the grounds that the state’s estimate for the mountain lion population may well be twice the number that really exists. That means the quotas for hunting and other killings may vastly exceed what the big cats can sustain. Similarly, from December to January, Montana will be accepting comments on hunting regulations that would set quotas approximately twice as large as what the best ecological research suggests would be sustainable. In those and other states, MLF has advocated that policy be set with higher resolution, setting different quotas for females, limiting hunting when cubs are most dependent on their mothers, and breaking out hunting regions into smaller areas, to prevent hunters from doing excessive harm to any one area.

To resolve these conflicts, I plan to work with volunteers and reach out to 4-H Clubs and neighborhood social media groups to help people understand ways to keep their livestock safe without feeling a need to kill mountain lions. By understanding mountain lions and how they’ve lived in our forests, hills, and mountains for thousands of years, we can demystify them. By making clear that they were in our backyards for decades without our even knowing it, we make the discovery of their presence less frightful. And by giving people tools and resources to protect themselves and their animals, we resolve conflicts before they start.

- Josh Rosenau, Conservation Advocate - Region I

On trails, ranches, and backyards, trail cameras are revealing the presence of mountain lions were people hadn’t known of their presence before. These high resolution images can frighten people, and lead them to lethal responses.

1

THANK YOU FROM OUR COEXISTENCE COORDINATOR Coexistence can be defined as existing in the same place at the same time. This word is easily misinterpreted, assumed to be used only by those who choose to care about the environment. But many of us know this is not true. My biggest hope is to communicate with people, starting in Northern California then expanding beyond, that coexisting means both lions and people survive and thrive at the same time without perceived conflict. This has always been possible and often times we are coexisting with cougars without even realizing it until property is damaged or a sighting initiates fear. To change our mindset is no easy task. But if we wanted an easy job, we wouldn’t be in this for the long run.

Habitat left for mountain lions is dwindling therefore what many believe is an increase in cougar populations is actually cougars being forced to interact with people more than they would like to. My goals include education and advocacy. But timing is everything here. It is not uncommon to work with members of the public who are fear struck, having seen the news of a mountain lion attack as well as their google search results for similar incidents. Or perhaps they have lost animals and are stuck swirling in trauma, both emotional and often financial.

To do this work we must empathize as well as speak on behalf of mountain lions. We truly could not do this work without the dedicated and passionate people who support us.

Preventing as well as responding to conflict with mountain lions, or carnivores in general, can only be done on the wings of people who share this mission. And for that I am grateful, hopeful and inspired.

- Dylan Henriksen, Coexistence Coordinator

COUGARS AND CLIMATE This year was a sobering reminder of how far humanity has to go to solve the climate crisis. Here in the United States, wildfires are ravaging the West, drought is crippling the Southwest, and storms and flooding events are pummeling the East. These climate impacts are displacing not only people, but also numerous wildlife species including America’s lion.

Meanwhile, in forests, wildfires are destroying millions of acres of prime mountain lion habitat, separating families and orphaning kittens.

As these and other climate change impacts worsen, we will likely see more mountain lions venturing into urban areas making it even more important to learn how to coexist peacefully with the species. Furthermore, if you care about Mountain lions occupy the largest wildlife, the mountain lion is an ideal range of any terrestrial mammal in the species to protect in the era of climate Western Hemisphere. For this reason, change. Mountain lions are ecological they serve as an excellent indicator engineers, providing food from their species, showing us how climate cached kills for hundreds of species change affects the numerous and keeping ungulate herds healthy by environments where the species preying on diseased and old resides. For example, in deserts, individuals. Mountain lions even help drought conditions are forcing mountain humans, protecting our lions to expand their territory as drought-imperiled waterways by reductions in forage decrease the reducing the time deer spend browsing abundance of deer. along streams.

To protect this essential carnivore in the era of climate change, MLF is pioneering a new program that bridges the gap between cougars and climate. Logan Christian, Region 2 Conservation Advocate, recently delivered a presentation on the topic of cougars and climate at the Wild Bear Nature Center in Colorado, and we had a webinar with Dr. David Stoner on this topic on November 18. We also just released a story map that highlights everything you need to know about the role mountain lions play in fighting climate change, including how you can get involved with protecting the species.

Join us in fighting the climate crisis by protecting America’s lion, a critical climate warrior.

- Logan Christian, Conservation Advocate - Region II 2

STATE UPDATES Washington Bear Update

Updates from Arizona

MLF members in Washington helped secure a key victory for carnivore management in November. After over a year of contentious debate, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission voted not to allow a spring bear hunt in 2022. Only 7 other states allow that spring hunt.

Things have been lively in Arizona as the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) develops their 2023-2028 Hunt Guidelines. The Hunt Guidelines determine all aspects of mountain lion killing and persecution, including the number, timing and age of mountain lions that hunters can kill.

Testimony ran ninety to one against the hunt. Critics objected that its timing risked orphaning cubs, which are born over the winter, and adds stress to hungry bears as they emerge from their winter dens. Wildlife managers had justified the hunt in part by claims that hunting was helpful to timber companies, and was necessary to manage human-wildlife conflict. Opponents made the case that hunting is not effective at managing these conflict.

In September, MLF submitted comments on the previous Hunt Guidelines. We recommended an overall reduction in hunting to, at minimum, keep lion killing below the intrinsic growth rate of the species, improving population estimates to consider how climate-induced drought impacts lion populations, and delaying the start of the hunting season to prevent kitten orphaning when newborn kittens are still dependent on their mothers.

Volunteers were instrumental in supporting these recommendations as well, with nearly thirty individuals submitting comments.

In The Seattle Times, MLF’s Josh Rosenau responds to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s decision not to permit a black bear hunt next spring, calling it “a reprieve,” and a reminder of how much work remains for the commission.

While the debate didn’t directly affect mountain lion management, we celebrate the vote as a sign of a changing attitude among Washington State’s wildlife officials. In an op-ed for The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review, MLF Conservation Advocate Josh Rosenau and CEO Debra Chase argued: “Approaching nature as an enemy to be conquered is outdated. Cougars have existed alongside bears and salmon in Pacific Northwest forests for as long as humans have been here, and humans and wildlife can coexist peacefully today, too. We can keep wildlife away from our livestock and tree plantations without a return to the slaughter that robbed eastern states of their native carnivores, and that has devastated our wild salmon and the orcas that rely on them. Washingtonians who love the outdoors, and who want to share our wild lands and wildlife with our children and future generations all want clean, fresh rivers teeming with fish, blue skies with colorful birds singing song, and majestic carnivores like the mountain lion, bear and wolf freely roaming our forests and mountains.”

With our many Arizona mountain lion supporters, we have developed two action teams: one focused on hunting reform and one focused on education. The reform team is diligently raising awareness on issues with AZGFD’s mountain lion hunting management. For example, volunteer Zack Curcija garnered media attention around the issue of kitten orphaning with an op-ed highlighting the story of Poppy, a mountain lion kitten found on a ranch after lion hunters were in the area. You can read a story about Poppy and the issue of kitten orphaning in Zack’s recent blog post on our Feature & Opinion page.

Our Arizona education team is also up and running. The team worked with Logan Christian, Region 2 Conservation Advocate, to develop a presentation on Arizona mountain lion conservation and management issues. The team already delivered three presentations with plans for many more, and they have so far recruited 11 new Arizona members. The team is also handing out information on how to get involved with the Hunt Guidelines at recreation areas in the Tucson In the end, the Commission’s choice came with no margin for area that attract over a million visitors each year. error: it was a tied vote with one seat vacant and awaiting the governor’s appointment. But the precedent can only help With all of these efforts underway, we have a fighting chance protect cougars in the Evergreen State, and stands as a to change the Hunt Guidelines and end the excessive killing reminder of how much hinges on Governor Inslee’s next of Arizona’s mountain lions. Stay tuned for updates on how selections for the Commission, and how vital it is for wildlife to get involved, or visit https://mountainlion.org/us/arizona/#! advocates to make their voices heard.

3

THANK YOU FROM OUR STATE POLICY ADVOCATE We often talk about nature as an entity separate from ourselves. We’ve created a duality between the built human world, with humanity against nature, us against the world. But the dichotomy is false. Nature is the phenomena of the physical world, and we are not excluded from that. Even the most seemingly “unnatural” environments are home to more than just us, from the birds in our trees to anthills in cracks on our sidewalks.

But in the long-term a world without mountain lions, is one with less biodiversity—something needed to maintain landscapes that are productive for us as well.

To effectively advocate we must address the short-term implication in order to ensure our long-term sustainability. Without the support of our passionate and concerned members, none of this work would be possible. We are grateful for that support and inspired by that passion every day.

Our concept of nature doesn’t end where we begin, because we are nature too. We can damage our world for economics benefit, but we only benefit in the short term. Long-term, we all must be stewards of our world so there’s still a place for us in it. In the short term, a lion can seem like a monster if they threaten livestock or even us. Regardless of cars and even lightning being a greater risk than mountain lions to our lives, they elicit fear.

- Paige Munson, State Policy Associate

ODE TO A MOUNTAIN LION This was a true incidence in Palo Alto.

It was tragic and so sad; people were appalled. A representative from the Mountain Lion Foundation came to Palo Alto to speak to many of us, but of course there was nothing that could be done to bring back the life of this majestic animal.

At the time, the representative from the Mountain Lion Foundation told us that the hungry young lion could have been easily trapped and relocated into the hills behind Palo Alto by the foundation.

Why have you left your mother?

Protecting you in your den, Teaching you the ways of life

Why have you sought human habitat?

Away from wild existence, Away from food and territory

Can you live without her love?

I whispered to the Youthful, mystical lion.

Are you young and inexperienced?

I called to the Hungry, lost night creature.

Why have you left your home?

Among the rocky hillside crags, Within the coastal forests

When did you become afraid?

Dogs chasing you from the streets, Into high branched of a tree

How can you find your way now?

I enquired of the Elusive shadow cat.

When did you seek our creek bed?

Providing little food to survive, Allowing no cover and rest

Are you safe from harm now?

I cried out to The majestic ghost cat.

Why did they shoot with their rifles?

Magnificent treasure of forest and hills, Sleeping, hungry, and afraid

Have you lost your way?

I questioned Our beloved native cougar.

Did they really have that right?

I sobbed to the dying, solitary Mountain Lion.

By Carol Taggart, May 2004

(Written in response to the hungry, youthful Mountain Lion, lost in residential Palo Alto, CA in May 2004, and shot by police with no consideration to humane methods of capture.)

4

LIVING WITH AMERICA'S LION It is that time of year again!

Now we fast forward. As a new team member with the Mountain Lion We are looking forward, rustling Foundation as their Coexistence around in our heads looking for Coordinator, it is my responsibility as resolutions this new year. Mine? well as resolution to provide the Well, here is a bit of background on resources, both educational me first. I have lived in the forests of opportunities and coexistence Northern California all my life, sharing measures, to make living with habitat with wildlife like black bears, America’s lion a success in mountain lions, bobcats, grey foxes, California. Using the word “possible” and many more. This kind of life was would be inaccurate, because living no stranger to me. But as a species with mountain lions has always been we tend to separate ourselves from possible! The key is linking the natural environment around us, understanding with action. From including whether or not we are conflict to coexistence, respect and standing in wildlife habitat. Therefore, appreciation for the species. when interactions with wildlife do occur, we are often unprepared as well as surprised. I, too, began my journey by losing animals to predation. I did not consider that by not implementing deterrent methods, including a predator proof enclosure, I was offering wildlife a meal in which they didn’t have to expend such valuable energy for in comparison to, say, a deer or a California quail.

It changed my way of thinking.

Start your new year off right, it’s not too late to get your exclusive Mountain Lion Foundation 2022 calendar! We have only limited quantities available so we recommend ordering before the ball drops!

For 35 years the Mountain Lion Foundation has been at the forefront of ensuring that America’s lion and the ecosystems the species represents retain their rightful place on this planet through advocacy, policy and legislation, education and conservation measures. The Mountain Lion Foundation’s new year’s resolution?

To keep working tirelessly for another 35 years. It is both an honor and a privilege to join this team working country-wide on behalf of the mountain lion as well as lion friendly habitat.

- Dylan Henriksen, Coexistence Coordinator

©Roy Toft

We are excited to announce our upcoming 2023 calendar will feature the images of wildlife photographer Roy Toft. Roy’s photos from around the world, from the bold mountain lions of Chile to the shy, elusive cats of North America, allow us a rare look at these iconic cats.

More information to come!

Include the Mountain Lion Foundation in your Estate Planning.

You can make sure that the work of protecting mountain lions continues as a part of your philanthropic legacy.

A bequest to the Mountain Lion Foundation in your will or trust is a way to ensure that work of protecting mountain lions will continue for years to come. In planning a gift through your will or trust please be sure to consult with an attorney who is familiar with current law and estate planning – if only to review it if you prepare it yourself.

There are tax consequences and advantages to planning when and how the trust distributes assets to non-profit organizations that might result in significant tax savings that would otherwise be overlooked.

If you have any questions about charitable giving please contact our office at 916-442-2666 Ext. 102.

Sample Gift Language can be found on our website https://mountainlion.org/donate/#estate-planning 5

ANOTHER YEAR PROTECTING OUR LIONS As we close out 2021 we think of our successes over the year and those many things that still need to be done to protect our mountain lions.

In Oregon we offered comments on the Hart Mountain Refuge Bighorn Plan to restore the bighorn sheep population to a sustainable level. The preferred option is to kill mountain lions based purely on geography by using hunters, hounds, box traps, leg traps, snares, and/or calls as opposed to killing or relocating only the lions that are actually known to kill bighorn sheep as is done elsewhere. We will monitor and respond to this in 2022 as the final plan is decided on.

In Washington state we were pleased to see the legislature require WDFW to report to the legislature on the number of cougars reported killed by local law enforcement and to appropriate funds to assist local police who do respond to cougar incidents where the local agency has signed an agreement recognizing that cougar management authority is vested in WDFW. These actions by the Washington Legislature and Governor are in response to at least one rogue sheriff in Washington who has arbitrarily decided that their public safety role allows them to lethally remove any cougar that they deem a public safety risk – despite their lack of wildlife training or knowledge. We are actively appealing a ruling in Klickitat County where the trail court declined to immediately stop this behavior.

In California we are still awaiting the status review report from CDFW regarding whether or not the Southern and Coastal populations of mountain lions will gain protected status under CESA. While this review is underway our lions have been protected and lethal removals of lions are now a last resort only available when pet and livestock owners have undertaken all reasonable measures to fully protect their animals.

Recognizing the impact transportation infrastructure has on mountain lions, CDFW and CalTrans staff have identified three much needed overcrossings to protect big horn sheep, mountain lions and a myriad other wildlife from the isolating effects of the proposed high speed rail line (Brightline) from Southern California to Reno Nevada in the I-15 right of way. We are working with our partners to ensure these overcrossings are included in the planning of the rail line.

We worked with our California legislators and the Wildlife Conservation Board on several fronts to help gain significant funding for three wildlife overcrossings. One will be located on State Route 97, one at Rainbow Canyon as well as the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon!

And some victories are found by just stopping bad legislation. This year we were able to stop a bill that would have expanded and extended grazing leases on public lands and state parks in the name of fire prevention. We also worked to stop a bill that would have created a new office in California Fish and Wildlife Commission that would have answered to special interests and provided a “confidential process to resolve disputes” and would have bypassed CDFW and CFWC staff as well as public meeting and FOIA laws.

As we begin another year of protecting our lions we would like to encourage you to stay involved by reading our newsletters, posts and action alerts. Our successes are only won because our legislators and public officials know that we speak for our members and that our members are their constituents. It is only by working together that we will Save America’s Lion.

- Fred Hull, Staff Attorney, Director of Advocacy

6

WHO OWNS WILDLIFE? Philosophically speaking it could be said no one can own the wild creatures we share the land with, but legally wildlife is a resource that is owned in the United States of America. Under the North American Model of Conservation wildlife is “a public resource, independent of the land or water, where wildlife may live.” The model outlines that evidence science is the means to decide the best practice for managing and sustaining these populations. Wildlife populations are managed at various levels of government from the federal, local, and state levels. Under these parameters, wildlife in the United States is a public resource to be sustained for the benefit of all, but it is generally left to state governments to decide that sustainment.

The state ownership doctrine outlines the power of the state to take and control wildlife populations within their jurisdiction. This ownership isn’t the direct concept of ownership as we own houses and cars. This ownership more directly refers to responsibility of the state governments in the management and control of wildlife, but this control is not exclusive and in cases can be superseded by the federal government. The federal government Is capable of limiting state’s control of wildlife and with making treaties that pertain to wildlife. These frequently come into play with endangered species, and in the protection and management of animals that cross state borders, such as migratory birds.

The original inhabitants of the what is now the United States also have rights to access and manage wildlife.

States must treat American Indians as sovereign in accordance with their treaties with the federal government. The wildlife resources in states must be shared with American Indians. In certain cases, tribes have rejected state regulation practices on reservations and this has been accepted legally so long as the wildlife on the reservation is not being mismanaged.

Our wildlife is just that—ours. Wildlife is a resource with a variety of values be it intrinsic, financial, through ecosystem services, or by the richness wildlife ads to the world around us. We all have a right to live in a world with wildlife, and hold our government accountable in ensuring that right is reality.

- Paige Munson, State Policy Associate

Our passion is for Saving America’s Lion and our motivation comes from you because 100% of our funding comes from people just like you. People who appreciate our efforts and our programming allowing us to rely on the values of gratitude, reciprocity, and the resilience of community.

Your gifts have helped it all—from our podcasts and webinars to our unwavering dedication to policy change to educating our citizens of the many resources available to them and very soon in 2022, our very own annual Mountain Lion Summit. Thank you!

7

Resolution, Resilience and Reconnection This program will help to evolve our cultures into one that respects and protects carnivores and all other wildlife. We can all be earth-honoring, celebrating diversity in a just, regenerative and peaceful way.

We are grateful for the talents our staff bring to this work and we are particularly grateful for you, the MLF community. Throughout a year like this one, we are more encouraged than ever that you are all ready to meet this moment with us in such profound, deep There is a new world emerging out of and far-reaching ways. Lisa Wells the shell of the old world. Everyday new author of The Believers reminds us that, ways are being created and developed the span of a single human life is althat show us how we can meet our most no time at all, and yet we can do needs and protect our wildlife. We also so much to keep our world living. Let us recognize conservation is human keep that in our thoughts as we work led - as is climate change and climate through these challenges together. mitigation - all are social issues. This is good news because we can develop - Debra Chase, CEO ways to create collaborative action through general systems theory, deep We are rapidly running out of time to ecology and positive social justice and protect that, which determines our own social change. There already are survival, yet we can resolve to not give farmers that regenerate the land, up on our world, we can Save ranchers that respect our apex America’s Lion and the biodiversity she predators and urban edge dwellers that supports. Soon you will be introduced to reside responsibly within our wildlands. our climate change, coexistence and With this new program, we can farming with the wild program. encourage more people, just like them ©Roy Toft to step up.

Mountain Lion Foundation P.O. Box 1896 Sacramento, CA 95812

Reflecting upon the past year a challenging time for so many of us we have seen hope at work and social resilience bending its arm towards the grateful hearts of community and family. Our worlds have entered into what Joanna Macy calls ‘The Great Turning’ and the work of the Mountain Lion Foundation is more important, relevant and timely than ever. Today, we all need the Foundation’s combined message of protecting biodiversity and allowing the mountain lion to thrive, to spread as far and wide as quickly as possible, igniting citizen engagement and leadership that’s so urgently needed right now.

PLACE STAMP HERE

Together, we can save America’s lion.