Southern California Mountain Lion Study Calls for Regional Approach to Land-Use Planning

Wider Use of Existing Tools Best Hope for Protecting Wildlife Corridors in the Face of Rapid Growth and Climate Change

Los Angeles, California — March 31, 2009 — A new study co-authored by scientists from The Nature Conservancy and the University of California at Davis calls for a more regional approach to land-use planning in order to protect California’s wildlife corridors. The study examines the challenges that mountain lions face when navigating rapidly developing southern California landscapes, as well as the difficulties associated with protecting the habitat corridors necessary for the survival of lions and other species.

The study, titled "Conserving Connectivity: Some Lessons from Mountain Lions in Southern California," appears in the April issue of the scientific journal Conservation Biology.

The researchers monitored radio-collared mountain lions in the Santa Ana Mountains of southern California. In order to persist in the wild, lions require large expanses of natural area that are connected by habitat corridors. However, as the study illustrates, it is difficult to protect large and inter-connected natural landscapes at the pace and the scale that is needed by protecting land parcel-by-parcel.

“It’s not just for lions that we need to protect these places and these connections,” explains Dr. Scott Morrison, director of science for The Nature Conservancy in California and co-author of the report. “Plants and animals need room to move around, especially as the climate changes. The more these ecosystems remain intact and functional, the more they will be able to provide us with the things we need as well, like clean water, places to play and ecosystems that soak up carbon from the atmosphere.”

The authors conclude that regional land-use plans, based on conservation science, are important tools to help protect corridors. They point to California’s Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) program as an example of land-use planning that, when coupled with policy, supports both conservation and economic growth. NCCPs and similar land-use planning tools, such as Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs), are usually employed on a local basis.

“Wildlife doesn’t stop at county borders, so in order to protect habitat we need the help of those making local land-use decisions. We need local plans to add up to regional habitat connectivity,” continues Morrison. “Our best hope is to decide what areas are important for conservation and what areas are most appropriate for development, and to put policies in place that make that blueprint real.”

“Mountain lions are a flagship species for conservation in southern California. If we identify and protect habitats that support their continued persistence, then we are much more likely to be able to protect many of the species that are native to the region,” explains Dr. Walter Boyce, co-director of the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center and co-author of the study.

The researchers focused on southern California because it is one of the most biologically rich yet most threatened natural landscapes in the world. Because of the pressure that rapid growth has placed on its natural areas, southern California has also been the focus of pioneering research into the science of habitat fragmentation and wildlife corridors. The authors combined their present-day research with an evaluation of over a decade of conservation research and efforts.

The study also highlights the importance of proactively protecting large-scale swaths of habitat where the opportunity to do so still exists.

“The issues facing southern California could be coming to a neighborhood near you, and soon,” says Morrison. “Our population continues to grow. If we act now, the lessons we’re learning in the highly fragmented southern part of the state can help us avoid losing species and habitats in other parts of California.”

The state of California began working toward identifying priority conservation areas when Assembly Bill 2785 (Ruskin, 2008) was signed into law in August 2008. AB 2785 requires the Department of Fish and Game to identify and compile a database of California’s most critical areas for maintaining habitat connectivity, including wildlife corridors and habitat linkages.

“Without identifying and protecting these wildlife corridors, we risk permanently damaging or even destroying fragile ecosystems within our state. This could have wide-ranging effects from threatening endangered species to damaging agricultural production in our state,” says Assemblymember Ira Ruskin, author of AB 2785. Ruskin was also recently appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board’s Legislative Advisory Committee.

About Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP)
NCCP is a cooperative effort designed to protect species and their habitats through an ecosystem approach. The program helps identify and provide for large area-wide protection of plants, animals and their habitats while allowing for compatible and appropriate economic activity. NCCP is a Department of Fish and Game program that began in 1991 under the state's Natural Community Conservation Planning Act. NCCP is a cooperative effort among numerous private and public partners and takes a broad-based ecosystem approach to planning for the protection and perpetuation of biological diversity.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.