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Now updated with a new preface: a full-color celebration of coexistence with California's iconic wildlife.
Wildness beats in the heart of California's urban areas, and across the state Californians are taking action to recast wildlife as an integral part of our everyday lives. In Los Angeles, residents rallied 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. Yosemite's park staff and millions of visitors have mobilized to keep its famed bears wild. And after a near century-long absence, Californians are welcoming wolves back to the state, inspired by the remarkable journey of the wolf OR-7. When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors explores this evolving dynamic between humans and animals. Now updated with a new preface, these inspiring stories celebrate a new model for wildlife conservation: coexistence.
Praise for When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors:
"Interweaves hope and examples of ongoing, broad solution approaches … by focusing on the importance of relationship/education, connectivity, and finally citizen science on the parts of people just like us gardeners, nature lovers, thinkers." —Jennifer Jewell, Cultivating Place
"Filled with unforgettable stories that will spark the desire to help, this is the wildlife book that everyone needs to read. Bravo!" —Amy Lignor, Feathered Quill Book Reviews
"This delightful book details our ever-evolving relationship with Earth's wildest creatures, promising that peaceful coexistence is possible." —Jennifer Holland, author of the best-selling Unlikely Friendships series
"Here is a book full of essential wisdom." —Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild
"When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors focuses on a serious problem by presenting meaningful solutions, and is as enjoyable to read as it is informative." —Jeff Fleischer, Foreword Reviews
"A contemporary and exciting view of conservation that we all can celebrate." —Ed Begley Jr.
Beth Pratt has worked in environmental leadership roles for over thirty years, and in two of the country’s largest national parks: Yosemite and Yellowstone. As the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, Pratt led the #SaveLACougars campaign to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing outside of Los Angeles. Her innovative conservation work has been featured by the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, BBC World Service, CNN, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, the Guardian, NPR, AP News, and more. She is also the author of I Heart Wildlife and the upcoming Yosemite Wildlife. Beth makes her home outside of Yosemite, "my north star," with her six dogs, two cats, and the mountain lions, bears, foxes, frogs, and other wildlife that frequent her backyard.
Collin O’Mara serves as President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. A native of Syracuse, New York, O’Mara was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford, a University Fellow at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and a Presidential Scholar at Dartmouth College. He is a Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a U.S. Green Building Council LEED accredited professional, and completed Stanford Business School’s Executive Management Program in Environmental Sustainability. O’Mara lives in Delaware and spends every possible moment in nature fishing, hunting, hiking, and birding with his wife Krishanti and daughters Riley and Alana.
Preface to the 2024 Edition
Foreword by Collin O’Mara, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation
Introduction: The Wild Wonder of California
CHAPTER 1 A Mountain Lion in Hollywoodland: Can People and Wildlife Coexist in the Second-Largest City in the Nation?
- Steve Winter: Photographing P-22
- Rat Poison: A Threat to P-22 and All Wildlife
- How David Crosby Advanced Mountain Lion Research
- Meet the Other Cougars of Los Angeles
- Making Cougarmagic: Tracking Mountain Lions with Cameras
- Meatball, the Glendale Bear
- Charismatic Microfauna: The Bugs of LA
- Calling in the Marines for the Desert Tortoise
- Become a Porpoise Citizen Scientist
- Sutro Sam: San Francisco’s First River Otter in Fifty Years
- Lake Merritt: Connecting People and Wildlife in Oakland
- A Community Rallies Around the Martinez Beavers
- The Pollinator Posse to the Rescue of Monarch Butterflies
- On Urban Raptors: GGRO Director Allen Fish
- Saving California Sea Lions at the Marine Mammal Center
- The Urban Coyote
- Phil Frank: A Cartoonist Advocates for Yosemite’s Bears
- The Return of the California Grizzly?
- Slow Down for Yosemite’s Bears
- Bighorn Sheep Get a Helping Hand
- How Does a Fisher Cross the Road?
- A Plea for the Pika
- Great Gray Owls Go Digital
- The Love Song of the Yosemite Toad
- Bakersfield Shares a City with Endangered Foxes
- Peregrine Falcons Nesting at San Jose City Hall
- Google Provides a Safe Haven for Egrets
- Larry Ellison Founds an Innovative Wildlife Center
- Farming for Native Bees
- Elephant Seals: The Comeback Kids
- Up Close with a California Condor
- The California Wolf Center
- OR-7: The Movie
- Buddy the Wolverine: Another Lonely Wanderer
- Bringing Back Salmon with the California Conservation Corps
- “Refrogging” California by Building Wetlands
- Ranchers Helping Ringtails in the Sutter Buttes
- Rice Farmers Sharing Their Fields with Sandhill Cranes
- Craig Newmark
- Elizabeth Sarmiento
- The Town of Alpine
- Susan Gottlieb
- California Conservation Corps Campuses
- San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront
- Leo Politi Elementary School
- Peter Coyote
- Northrop Ranch
- Diane Ellis
- The City of Chula Vista
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
About the Author