A petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation to list the mountain lion on California’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) in Southern California and Central Coast has been evaluated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
In a memo released Feb. 6 by the CDFW, the department found there is enough scientific information available to indicate that the action may be warranted and recommends that the petition be accepted and considered.
The petition would list mountain lions in the Central Coast region and in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana Mountain area under the ESA. The proposed evolutionarily significant unit as described in the petition includes six genetic subpopulations of mountain lions: Central Coast North, which includes the Santa Cruz Mountains; Central Coast Central from southern Monterey Bay to the Ventura area; Central Coast South, which includes the Santa Monica Mountains; San Gabriel/San Bernardino Mountains; Santa Ana Mountains; and Eastern Peninsular Range, which includes eastern San Diego County to the Colorado River.
After the recommendation by the CDFW, the petition will be considered by the California Fish and Game Commission (CFGC) at its meeting April 15-16.
If CFGC determines in April that listing may be warranted, CDFW will review the status of the species and provide CFGC a written, peer-reviewed report before CFGC makes a final determination about whether to list the species.
The process is a year-long review of whether the species should be formally protected under the state’s ESA. The ESA’s full protections apply during the year-long candidacy period.
Agriculture opposition
However, ranching and farming groups in the state argue that listing the mountain lions under the ESA is in violation of the Proposition 117 initiative. The initiative contains language that says the state’s wildlife regulators can’t “adopt any regulation that conflicts with or supersedes” certain provisions.
Proposition 117 says the state “shall” issue a “depredation permit” to kill a mountain lion upon request if state officials confirm it killed livestock. Any changes to the initiative require a four-fifths vote of the legislature or a vote at the ballot box.
The California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) has expressed their vocal opposition to the petition and believes the three-strike policy is contrary to California law, and is pressing the CDFW to reverse the policy. CCA is encouraging members to write the commission and tell them how this will impact their ranch and the likely impacts mountain lion protections would have upon their operation. Letters addressed to Eric Sklar, president of CFGC, can also be sent via email to Kirk Wilbur at CCA.
In addition, Noelle Cremers of the California Farm Bureau Federation told the commission last week, “There is pretty clearly statutory direction on what the commission is and isn’t allowed to do for mountain lions.”
Legal protections afforded to mountain lions vary widely. All Western states with surviving mountain lion populations (except Texas) established limited protections for the animals in the early 1970s. Today mountain lions are classified as a game species and hunted for sport in 13 states. In these states, authority for setting and carrying out hunting programs is held by each state’s wildlife management agency. In California, mountain lions are classified as a “specially protected mammal.”
The petition notes in its findings that vehicle strikes are a known mortality factor for mountain lions, and in California, an estimated 100 mountain lions are killed every year by vehicle strikes. In addition, the petition said intraspecific strife is another factor affecting mountain lion populations, along with the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, and a loss of habitat due to development.
The petition also cites studies containing several suggestions for future management, such as land-use planning at a larger scale to promote optimal habitat connectivity and gene flow, and for conservation of mountain lion prey and other wildlife species.
Depredation permits
The “three-strike” policy implemented in 2018 states CDFW will only permit non-lethal “take” of a mountain lion (e.g., pursuit and hazing) after the first and second instances in which a mountain lion is confirmed to have perpetrated a depredation of livestock or domestic animals. Only upon the third confirmed depredation by a mountain lion will CDFW issue a lethal take depredation permit.
The CDFW issued a depredation permit to a Ventura County man under the three-strikes policy. The National Park Service stated on Jan. 27, P-56, a 4- to 5-year-old male mountain lion living in the western Santa Monica Mountains south of Highway 101, was killed. The landowner reported that in the last two years, 12 animals were lost during nine depredation incidents.
According to CDFW officials, the landowner implemented measures including bringing in livestock, penning any remaining livestock close to the barn and houses, and utilizing trained guard dogs, hotwire fencing, motion-activated lights and auditory (radio) hazing.
The CDFW also stated, “The property owner took these measures even though incidents involving P-56 took place outside the boundary of the current geographic area for the three-strikes policy.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ correspondent
