Alamo • Danville • Blackhawk • Diablo • San Ramon
VALLEY
THE
SENTINEL always for the community VOl 23, nO 1
Look inside for the latest Regional in Nature Activity Guide!
January 2018
www.valleysentinel.com
SPOTLIGHT
L to R: Beth Burlingame-Randall accepts the Rotarian of the Year plaque and gift from Rotary Club of Alamo President Joan Grimes.
Beth BurlingameRandall named Alamo Rotarian of the Year Beth Burlingame-Randall has been named the Alamo Rotarian of the Year by the Rotary Club of Alamo. The award was presented to
ECRWSS
Postmaster: Dated Material
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID DANVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 70
See ROTARY page 5
Sentinel Newspapers, Inc. 542 San Ramon Valley Blvd., Ste A P.O. Box 1309 Danville, CA 94526 925-820-6047
Save Mount Diablo recentley purchased a 95-acre Anderson Ranch in Morgan Territory. View toward Mt. Diablo. Photo credit: Scott Hein. For the full story please see page 7.
The Truth about Mountain Lions by James Hale
M o u n t a i n l i o n a n c e s t o rs originated in North America around 10 million years ago from the ancestral stock of Saber-toothed Cats (Smilodon fatalis) and Scimitar Cat (Homotherium serum) which originated around 25 million years ago. The Saber-toothed cats lived between 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago.The mountain lion lineage branched off around 1 million years ago. The two species of saber tooth cats, as well as the North American Cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani)and the North American Lion (Panthera atrox) were extirpated in North America around 10,000 years ago, starting with the Younger Dryas Cold Spell or Big Freeze (12,800 11,500 Before Present) during the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (2,588,000 - 11,700 million years ago). Climate change at the end of the Pleistocene and perhaps overexploitation by the
PaleoIndians led to the extinction of the Megafauna. Mountain lion populations flourished thereafter. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are presently the only large, obligate carnivore thriving in self-sustaining populations across western North America. The species has existed here along with its major prey - Mule Deer ( Odocoileus hemionus), White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), Elk (Cervus elaphus), Moose (Alces alces), and Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) - for at least 13,000 years. Ecologically, mountain lions strongly influence energy flow in ecosystems, are a potent selective force on prey animals, modulate prey population dynamics, indirectly affect herbivory in plant communities, influence
competitive interactions b e t we e n h e r b i vo re s, a n d compete with other carnivores for prey. Moreover, because self-sustaining mountain lion populations require expansive, interconnected wild land, conservation strategies designed to benefit mountain lions also benefit an array of other wildlife.
Unregulated mountain lion hunting and habitat alterations that affected prey numbers, caused the near extinction of the mountain lion in eastern North America. By 1900, mountain lions had largely been extirpated east of the Rocky Mountains, See LION page 9
New Year, New You!
pages 8-9