When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California

by Beth Pratt-Bergstrom, Collin O'Mara (Foreword by)

Overview

Wildness beats in the heart of California's urban areas. In Los Angeles, residents are rallying to build one of the largest wildlife crossings in the world because of the plight of one lonely mountain lion named P-22. Porpoises cavort in San Francisco Bay again because of a grassroots effort to clean up a waterway that was once a toxic mess. And on the Facebook campus in Silicon Valley, Mark Zuckerberg and his staff have provided a home for an endearing family of wild gray foxes. Through actions as sweeping as citizen science initiatives and as instantaneous as social media posts, a movement of diverse individuals and communities is taking action to recast nature as an integral part of our everyday lives. When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors explores this evolving dynamic between humans and animals, including remarkable stories like the journey of the wolf OR-7 and how Californians are welcoming wolves back to the state after a ninety-year absence, how park staff and millions of visitors rallied to keep Yosemite's famed bears wild, and many more tales from across the state. Written by Beth Pratt-Bergstrom of the National Wildlife Federation, these inspiring stories celebrate a new paradigm for wildlife conservation: coexistence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597143462
Publisher:	Heyday
Publication date:	08/01/2016
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	364,907
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Beth Pratt-Bergstrom has worked in environmental leadership roles for over twenty-five years. As the California director for the National Wildlife Federation, she says, “I have the best job in the world—advocating for the state's remarkable animals.” Her conservation work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, BBC World Service, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR, and she has written for CNN.com, Boom: A Journal of California, Yellowstone Discovery, Yosemite Journal, and Inspiring Generations: 150 Years, 150 Stories in Yosemite. She is the author of the novel The Idea of Forever and the official Junior Ranger Handbook for Yosemite. Beth lives outside of Yosemite with her husband, four dogs, two cats, and the wildlife that frequents her NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat backyard.

Table of Contents

Foreword Collin O'Mara, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation xiii

Introduction: The Wild Wonder of California xvii

Chapter 1 A Mountain lion in Holly woodland: Can People and Wildlife Coexist in the Second-Largest City in the Nation? 1

Steve Winter: Photographing P-22 28

Rat Poison: A Threat to P-22 and All Wildlife 29

How David Crosby Advanced Mountain Lion Research 30

Meet the Other Cougars of Los Angeles 31

Making Cougarmagic: Tracking Mountain Lions with Cameras 32

Meatball, the Glendale Bear 33

Charismatic Microfauna: The Bugs of LA 34

Calling in the Marines for the Desert Tortoise 35

Chapter 2 They Left Their Hearts in San Francisco: The Amazing Return of the Harbor Porpoise 37

Become a Porpoise Citizen Scientist 62

Sutro Sam: San Francisco's First River Otter in Fifty Years 63

Lake Merritt: Connecting People and Wildlife in Oakland 64

A Community Rallies Around the Martinez Beavers 65

The Pollinator Posse to the Rescue of Monarch Butterflies 66

On Urban Raptors: GGRO Director Allen Fish 67

Saving California Sea Lions at the Marine Mammal Center 68

The Urban Coyote 69

Chapter 3 Keeping Bears Wild: How Staff and Visitors in Yosemite National Park Help Wildlife 71

Phil Frank: A Cartoonist Advocates for Yosemite's Bears 100

The Return of the California Grizzly? 101

Slow Down for Yosemite's Bears 102

Bighorn Sheep Get a Helping Hand 103

How Does a Fisher Cross the Road? 104

A Plea for the Pika 105

Great Gray Owls Go Digital 106

The Love Song of the Yosemite Toad 107

Chapter 4 Friending Wildlife: The Facebook Foxes and Wildlife Corridors in Silicon Valley's High-Tech World 109

Bakersfield Shares a City with Endangered Foxes 135

Peregrine Falcons Nesting at San Jose City Hall 136

Google Provides a Safe Haven for Egrets 137

Larry Ellison Founds an Innovative Wildlife Center 138

Farming for Native Bees 139

Elephant Seals: The Comeback Kids 140

Up Close with a California Condor 141

Chapter 5 The Incredible Journey: California Welcomes Back Wolves after Ninety Years 143

The California Wolf Center 169

OR-7: The Movie 170

Buddy the Wolverine: Another Lonely Wanderer 171

Bringing Back Salmon with the California Conservation Corps 172

"Refrogging" California by Building Wetlands 173

Ranchers Helping Ringtails in the Sutter Buttes 174

Rice Farmers Sharing Their Fields with Sandhill Cranes 175

Good Neighbors: What Californians Are Doing for Wildlife in Their Own Backyards 177

Craig Newmark 179

Elizabeth Sarmiento 181

The Town of Alpine 183

Susan Gottlieb 185

California Conservation Corps Campuses 188

San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront 190

Leo Politi Elementary School 193

Peter Coyote 195

Northrop Ranch 197

Diane Ellis 199

The City of Chula Vista 200

Get Involved 203

Acknowledgments 207

Photo Credits 211

About the Author 212

Editorial Reviews

08/01/2016
The star of this book (it's Hollywood, after all) is Los Angeles's Griffith Park resident mountain lion, P-22. He has a strong supporting cast of harbor porpoises, gray foxes, black bears, and wolves, all of which are emblematic of California's "rewilding" efforts. Pratt-Bergstrom (California director, National Wildlife Federation) identifies habitat loss as the chief threat to wildlife and argues for "coexistence"—in which cities, neighborhoods, and backyards are shared spaces—as "essential to conservation as our protected lands." Humans may also need to "rewild" themselves. "It's not about habituating wildlife," she writes, "it's about habituating ourselves to the wild world." The author packs a lot into a small, attractive package: it could be read as an ecotravel guide, a natural and cultural history of some select species, popular science recounting California's modern conservation successes, or even as a how-to manual for citizen scientists who want to help. The main stories are supported by dozens of one-page vignettes that explore related conservation themes. Focusing on the "wild wonder" of her subjects, the author manages to avoid the purple prose that sometimes accompanies writing meant to inspire. VERDICT Though rooted in the Golden State, the book is sure to induce California dreamin' for nature lovers everywhere.—Robert Eagan, Windsor P.L., Ont.

Library Journal