California safeguards pumas as federal rules fail to protect their habitat

We don’t know the exact reason a male mountain lion known as 157M wandered into the heart of San Francisco in January.

When I stepped out of my Japantown apartment that morning and caught a glimpse of him through my binoculars, all I could think of was how tiny his home turf has become and that he was running out of space.

Two weeks later the California Fish and Game Commission granted Southern California and Central Coast mountain lions protections under the state Endangered Species Act. This could mean great things for pumas like 157M.

But these protections are no panacea. Mountain lions will still fall victim to fast cars on freeways that slice through their habitat. And they will still struggle to find suitable mates, especially in places like the Santa Monica Mountains, where the local extinction threat is serious.

Yet the commission’s action is a ray of hope. At a time when the federal government is decimating environmental protections, the state granting protections for our most imperiled mountain lions is a form of resistance. It’s a display of what conservation can look like in the Golden State.

The federal tide is turning to embrace fossil fuels and corporate profit. California is turning to environmental science and preserving our natural heritage.

Protecting pumas does more than help one species. Mountain lions go where other wildlife go. When we take care of their habitat, we help bears, bobcats, raptors, badgers, songbirds and beetles. 

One study found that pumas can affect and support some 485 species.

With California protections, there’s a legal mandate for state agencies to protect six threatened puma populations. That means future road construction and development projects must evaluate how they might block important connectivity areas and isolate mountain lions.

These new protections also encourage state wildlife officials to create a recovery plan, a roadmap to pull pumas from extinction’s brink.

The plan could identify areas most important to restoring wildlife connectivity, like in Coyote Valley, where Highway 101 and its associated development present a fortified barrier for animal movement between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range. 

The recovery roadmap also could include strategies to further curb the use of the most toxic rat poisons, which present grave harm to pumas despite existing prohibitions.

Hopefully protections will bring more awareness of and resources for coexistence strategies and thoughtful solutions to conflict. 

More funding and more science are necessary to make the landscape safer for wildlife and livestock. Helping our rural neighbors protect their cattle and sheep can prevent depredation and financial losses while protecting pumas.

Acknowledging the puma’s plight and taking steps to prevent extinction are all about coexistence. It doesn’t mean we value animals over humans. Coexistence means communities can grow and thrive, leaving enough room for our wild neighbors to do the same.

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

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