mountain lions

A Wildlife Crossing for the Southern Santa Cruz Mountains

Looking west from the edge of Rocks Ranch down at Highway 101. Easy for cars, deadly for wildlife. Photo by Mike Kahn.

“The Santa Cruz Mountains are almost like an island,” Bryan Largay, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County’s Conservation Director, explains. “And islands are where extinctions happen.” But there is hope being generated in places like Rocks Ranch.

Bay Area Puma Project

Mountain lions are some of the most iconic animals in the western hemisphere. But while we make plenty of room for them in our cultural imagery, we don’t always consider them when planning our landscapes. Mountain lions, or pumas, are rather shy apex predators that require a lot of space.

How To Capture A Mountain Lion

Cajun, a Plott hound, and his two English coonhound counterparts, Sage and Randy, wait for their chance to track a mountain lion.  Brendan Bane photo.

Biology and age-old instinct make hounds the perfect tool to help researchers capture elusive mountain lions. But the practice has come under pressure since the 2012 ban on hunting with dogs.

Why Does The Puma Cross The Road?

The "McDougal mountain lion," named for property Land Trust seeks to purchase for a wildlife crossing, on Aug. 9. Pathways for Wildlife photo.

The instinct to roam is key to the mountain lion's evolutionary success. Conservationists hope a wildlife crossing under Highway 17 will make the journey less deadly for the pumas of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Mountain Lion

Mountain lions—also called pumas, panthers, cougars and catamounts—can weigh over 200 pounds. Photo by Tony Hisgett / Creative Commons.

The mysterious ways of the Santa Cruz Mountains' apex predator.