Category Archives: California

Highways, Genes and So. Cal. Mountain Lions

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UC Davis mountain lion geneticsThe mountain lions of southern California are hemmed in on all sides. In one place a 10-lane highway divides mountain lion habitat. All that development is particularly difficult on a species with such a large home range.

All those highways and housing developments are putting a crimp in the mountain lions of the region’s gene pool, says a recent paper in PLoS ONE by University of California, Davis scientists. The mountain lions of the Santa Ana Mountains are no longer on speaking terms with the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains. Within those population segments, genetic diversity is low.

I just covered this issue back in January (where the solution was a wildlife crossing) and wasn’t sure it was worth writing about again, but a the UC Davis press release and a Los Angeles Times article pointed out that we’ve seen this phenomenon of mountain lions hemmed in by a growing human population before — in the Florida panther. Other Puma populations may not be as distinctive as the Florida panther, but we are almost certainly sure to see this again. If there is a solution, it is a story worth following.

Read the PLoS ONE paper here.
Read the UC Davis press release here.
Read the Los Angeles Times story here.

Photo/map: This map identifies puma captures in the Santa Ana Mountains and eastern Peninsular ranges of southern California. The inset photo is of a mountain lion keeping watch while her juvenile cubs feed. Courtesy: UC Davis/The Nature Conservancy

Construction Netting Harms Swallows

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Nets installed to keep cliff swallows away from a bridge construction zone in Petaluma, California wound up killing dozens of the birds last year, the Press Democrat reports. The construction firm had to pay a $3,525 fine for killing the birds, but now a local conservation organization has won a victory that will force CalTrans and its contractors on the Petaluma bridge project to use hard plastic sheeting instead of netting to keep the birds away during construction.

Read all the details in the Press Democrat, here.

Roadside construction nets, although these were used on the ground to control erosion, also killed wildlife in New York State. We wrote about it here.

Photo: American tree swallows nesting under the bridge over Cayucos Creek, Cayucos, CA. By marlin harms. Used under Creative Commons license.

Construction Netting Harms Swallows

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Nets installed to keep cliff swallows away from a bridge construction zone in Petaluma, California wound up killing dozens of the birds last year, the Press Democrat reports. The construction firm had to pay a $3,525 fine for killing the birds, but now a local conservation organization has won a victory that will force CalTrans and its contractors on the Petaluma bridge project to use hard plastic sheeting instead of netting to keep the birds away during construction.

Read all the details in the Press Democrat, here.

Roadside construction nets, although these were used on the ground to control erosion, also killed wildlife in New York State. We wrote about it here.

Photo: American tree swallows nesting under the bridge over Cayucos Creek, Cayucos, CA. By marlin harms. Used under Creative Commons license.

Bobcat Trapping Curtailed Around Joshua Tree

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NYS bobcatIt all began, says the High Country News Goat blog, when a California man found a bobcat trap on his property next to Joshua Tree National Monument. He had not given the trapper permission, so he sought relief from the local police. The police told the man that not only had the trapper not done anything illegal, but he had better give the trap back, or he would be the one doing something illegal, the blog says.

On January 1 a new law in California prohibited the trapping of bobcats in the area adjacent to Joshua Tree went into effect. Bobcat trapping in the area had recently doubled because of demand for bobcat furs in Asia, the blog says.

January 1 also saw the enactment of a new law limiting when and where nuisance mountain lions in the state can be killed.

Read the High Country News Goat blog detailing the new bobcat law, here.
Read a round-up of new California laws, including the bobcat and mountain lion laws, from KQED here.
And read a short item on the mountain lion law in Field & Stream, here.

Photo: Bobcat in New York State, courtesy of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Bobcat Trapping Curtailed Around Joshua Tree

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NYS bobcatIt all began, says the High Country News Goat blog, when a California man found a bobcat trap on his property next to Joshua Tree National Monument. He had not given the trapper permission, so he sought relief from the local police. The police told the man that not only had the trapper not done anything illegal, but he had better give the trap back, or he would be the one doing something illegal, the blog says.

On January 1 a new law in California prohibited the trapping of bobcats in the area adjacent to Joshua Tree went into effect. Bobcat trapping in the area had recently doubled because of demand for bobcat furs in Asia, the blog says.

January 1 also saw the enactment of a new law limiting when and where nuisance mountain lions in the state can be killed.

Read the High Country News Goat blog detailing the new bobcat law, here.
Read a round-up of new California laws, including the bobcat and mountain lion laws, from KQED here.
And read a short item on the mountain lion law in Field & Stream, here.

Photo: Bobcat in New York State, courtesy of NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

LA Mtn. Lions Need Overpass

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mo mountain lionThere is a small population of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, just northeast of Los Angeles. The problem is, an article in the LA Times says, the population is hemmed in by highways, agricultural fields and the ocean, and is too small to be self-sustaining. Wandering male mountain lions typically die in traffic before reaching the enclave, causing inbreeding.

The solution, say some area conservationists, is a highway overpass. Twice before, funding for a wildlife tunnel under the roadways was rejected. The overpass would cost a lot more. The next step is funding from a local conservation group for the California Department of Transportation to study the overpass option.

Read the article in the Los Angeles Times, here.

Photo: courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

Western Pond Turtle Diseases Studied

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wpt-measured_csilbernagelWhy are western pond turtle populations declining? The focus has been on habitat decline and competition from non-native red-eared sliders. Recently, researchers from University of California at Davis, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and US Fish and Wildlife Service teamed up for the first study of western pond turtle diseases.

They found that both the western pond turtles, and the red-eared sliders carried a virus known to cause respiratory infections, especially in southern California. They also found that the turtles were free of herpesvirus, ranavirus and the bacteria salmonella.

Read more about the study on the CDFW Wildlife Investigations Lab blog, here. It includes a link to the abstract of the journal article about the study.

Photo: A western pond turtle is being measured as part of a collaborative study to examine their health. (Photo courtesy of C. Silbernagel, UC Davis)

California Bans Lead Bullets

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On Friday (Oct. 11), Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed the nation’s first law banning the use of lead bullets in hunting into law. The bill was written to slow the decline of the California condor, which ingests the lead bullets when scavenging at hunters’ gut piles or when eating the bodies of animals shot but not killed by hunters. The law contains an escape clause that will revoke the ban if the federal government bans non-lead bullets because of the armor-piercing abilities.

California had previously banned lead bullets in the areas of the state where there are condors. It is the first state in the nation to ban lead bullets.

One odd fact, the bill was signed in a group of 11 bills. Most of the other of the bills in the group focused on gun control. Protests against banning lead bullets for hunting have often portrayed the bill as a gun control measure rather than a wildlife conservation and human health measure.

Read the Los Angeles Times article here.
Read the KCET blog post here.
Find a Google list of other news articles here.

Plague: Human Cases in NM, Squirrel Case in Cal.

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New Mexico has had all three cases of plague in humans that have occurred in the United States this year, a New Mexico Department of Health press release reports.

Read the press release here. (Will open a PDF.)

The bacteria that causes plague is endemic in the southwestern US. Wildlife cases are so common that I don’t report them here, but those cases can be an important warning to locals to take extra care to keep their pets away from wildlife and to avoid flea bites, and for wildlife managers and researchers to take precautions as well.

Just such a warning is in place in Palomar, California, where ground squirrels at a campground have been diagnosed with plague.

Read the story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Plague: Human Cases in NM, Squirrel Case in Cal.

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New Mexico has had all three cases of plague in humans that have occurred in the United States this year, a New Mexico Department of Health press release reports.

Read the press release here. (Will open a PDF.)

The bacteria that causes plague is endemic in the southwestern US. Wildlife cases are so common that I don’t report them here, but those cases can be an important warning to locals to take extra care to keep their pets away from wildlife and to avoid flea bites, and for wildlife managers and researchers to take precautions as well.

Just such a warning is in place in Palomar, California, where ground squirrels at a campground have been diagnosed with plague.

Read the story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.