2000 Fall - Mountain Lion Foundation
2000 Fall - Mountain Lion Foundation
2000 Fall - Mountain Lion Foundation
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•<br />
• PRO T ( T N G ( A o R A s w D E •<br />
he <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> and its many supporters<br />
came of age ten years ago with the passage of Proposition<br />
117. The first of its kind-a true citizens' initiative<br />
that qualified for the ballot using only volunteer signature<br />
gatherers-the <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> Initiative strove to<br />
protect mountain lions in California forever. For the most part,<br />
Proposi tion 117 was successful. Mountai n lions are no longer<br />
legally hunted and $300 million of state funds have been spent<br />
protecting more than 1/2 million acres of important wildlife habitat.<br />
This did not occur without the vigilance and at much cost to<br />
. organization and its individual members.<br />
After all, the ink had hardly dried on Proposition 117 before the<br />
legislature attempted to overturn this protection. The next few years<br />
saw repeated legislative attempts to, at the very least, divelt and<br />
dilute, if not delete the funds needed to acquire habitat essential<br />
for the continual existence of mountain lions in California.<br />
PROPosmON 117<br />
TEN YEARS<br />
AFTER<br />
Let's not forget Proposition 197 where the initiative process was<br />
used by the NRA and other hunting forces to try and accomplish<br />
what could not be achieved through the legislative process-the<br />
renewed killing of these magnificent creatures. But MLF and you<br />
held fast and thwarted their effOlts to roll back the clock.<br />
Now it is time to look beyond our state's borders. Beyond our<br />
accomplishments that only protect a small segment of a diminishing<br />
species. Cougars are still aggressively hunted as trophy<br />
animals in other western states. Even the citizens of Oregon and<br />
Washi ngton was followed California's lead and instituted their<br />
own cougar protections are finding these protection laws overturned<br />
or at risk.<br />
One of MLF's volunteers, Carrol McDonald, who recently moved<br />
to Arizona, called for our help in stopping yet another RA initiative.<br />
This insidious measure purports to simply leave wildlife management<br />
up to the "experts." In fact, it makes changes to the Ari-<br />
continued on page 3
LITTLE CATS<br />
ABOBBIE KALMA BOOK<br />
From domestic housecats to<br />
the rare manul, young readers<br />
will enjoy learning about all the<br />
different cats in the small cat<br />
family. Children will treasure the<br />
brilliant color photos of kittens<br />
and adult cats alike. $5.95<br />
MOUNTAIN LION FOUNDATION<br />
Shopping Mall<br />
MO 'fAIN L10 ACTIVITIES BOOK<br />
BY SA ORA CHISHOLM ROBI SON<br />
Published by the Denver<br />
Museum of Natural History, this<br />
story and activity book is great for<br />
grade levels 3 through 8. Ideal for<br />
educators, group leaders and<br />
parents. $7.95<br />
POSTCARD BOOK<br />
Send your message<br />
across the miles with<br />
this lovely book of<br />
postcards. The book<br />
contains 21<br />
different 5xT' p<br />
photos of<br />
mountain lions by wildlife photographer I<br />
Denver Bryan. Each po tcard also<br />
includes an interesting and unique fact<br />
about the cougar. $7.95<br />
BRONZE KEY CHAIN<br />
De igned xclusively for the<br />
<strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong>, this<br />
stunning bronz key hain with a basrelief<br />
image of a mountain lion not only carries your<br />
ke s but also serves as a constant reminder of why we need to<br />
protect this elu ive cr ature. ,5.95 .<br />
6 Please use the enclosed envelope.<br />
"ADOPT-A-L10 " •<br />
"Adopt-a-lion" is the perfect gift for cougar lovers.<br />
Your symbolic adoption helps ensure the protection of<br />
this magnificent caL. All proceeds will benefit our<br />
educational outreach programs. Your special "adopt"<br />
packet will include the following: 'Welcome' scroll,<br />
personalized certificate suitable for framing, color<br />
photo, mountain lion fact sheets. The adoption is<br />
$25.00. All adoptions are tax-deductible.<br />
BECOME AMEMBER<br />
Join the fight to protect California's wildlife. As a<br />
member of the <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong>, you will<br />
receive a copy of our quarterly newsletter, MLF Review.<br />
You will also receive legislative and special alert<br />
announcing actions you can take to protect wildlife.<br />
Most of all, you will receive the satisfaction of knowing<br />
that your SUppOlt helps to protect wildlife throughout<br />
California. emberships make great gifts, too!<br />
•<br />
•
•<br />
MOUNTAIN<br />
l ION<br />
FOUNDATION<br />
Shopping Mall<br />
YEAR 2001 MOUNTAIN LION<br />
CALENDAR<br />
Thanks to people like<br />
you, mountain lions are<br />
guaranteed to survive into<br />
the next millennium.<br />
Celebrate their majestic<br />
beauty with our year 2001<br />
calendar. The stunning<br />
images captured by<br />
wildlife photographer<br />
Denver Bryan will enhance<br />
the days and<br />
months of all who receive<br />
it. $10.95<br />
el'ALK ON UIE WILD SIDE" FA NY PACK' . • -<br />
This eye-catching, multi-pocketed pack is designed with both the outdoor<br />
enthusia t and traveler in mind. Made from heavyweight premium cotton<br />
anvas, its six pockets can carry everything you need for an active day. The<br />
center pouch is perfect for your water bottle or camera lens. $17.95<br />
Prop. 117 cOlllinuedfrom page 3<br />
ditor recently issued a report criticizing both<br />
CDFG and State Parks for the lack of current<br />
- or in many cases "any" - plans for the<br />
management of the public's property.<br />
One egregious example of this lack ofplanning<br />
is a state park campground planned for<br />
placement right smack in the middle of a<br />
mountain lion corridor! We all know that if<br />
this occurs any mountain lions that have the<br />
tenacity to use this wildlife corridor will be<br />
killed in the name of public safety.<br />
Additionally, although Proposition 117 has<br />
stopped the legal hunting of mountain lions<br />
in California, it has not stopped the illegal<br />
killing of these animals. CDFG estimates that<br />
commercial poaching in this state is the second<br />
greatest threat to wildlife aJter habitat<br />
destruction. MLF is working on the problem,<br />
but it is a difficult long-term issue that requires<br />
the mutual cooperation of everyone<br />
from the neighbor who sees the killing to the<br />
local District Attorney willing to prosecute<br />
these criminals to the fullest extent of the law.<br />
Finally, although California's voters overwhelmingly<br />
chose to implement and protect<br />
Proposition 117, there are still a number of<br />
people who are unaware of their role in keeping<br />
themselves, their children and their property<br />
safe while protecting wildlife. Too many<br />
rural residents are causing mountain lions,<br />
bears, and other wild animals to be killed by<br />
CDFG because they choose to attract predators<br />
with their practices of deliberately feeding<br />
wildlife, improperly containing their garbage,<br />
or following the inappropriate practice<br />
of not implementing even the most rudimentary<br />
livestock management and protection<br />
practices while their livelihood (livestock)<br />
roams the countryside. Ignorance as well as<br />
indifference has been deadly to Califomia's<br />
wildlife.<br />
With the perspective of time, it is clear to<br />
us that California's Propo ition 117 was a good<br />
beginning. A solid foundation upon which to<br />
build. It is also a powerful example 01' what<br />
can be accomplished when wildlife upporters<br />
unite. At the same time, Propo ition 117<br />
serves as a con tant reminder that the good<br />
fight is never done. That it take a long time<br />
to change government institution, and how<br />
fragile are the victories, and how et rnal i<br />
the struggle. MLF<br />
Please lise the enclosed envelope. 7
8<br />
CALIFORNIA LEGAL ADVOCATES for WILDLIFE<br />
California Legal Advocates for<br />
Wildlife (CLAW) is a legal assistance<br />
program of the <strong>Mountain</strong><br />
<strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong>. CLAW provides low<br />
cost and pro-bono legal services to<br />
grassroots environmental group seeking<br />
to protect California's wildlife and habitat.<br />
For more infonnation on MLF's CLAW<br />
Program, and its activities visit our<br />
website: http://www.mountainlion.org/<br />
CLA W/clawprogram.htm.<br />
NATOMAS BASI SPECIES WIN IN COURT <br />
BUT HABITAT DESTRUCTIO CONTI UES<br />
Like most California cities, Sacramento<br />
is growing. Parts of its northern expansion<br />
plans include residential development<br />
on land that up till now was rice<br />
fields or similar production grain agricultural<br />
land. Prime garter snake and<br />
swainson hawk habitat.<br />
As a precursor to any bulldozers plowing<br />
up the fields, Sacramento was required<br />
to develop the Natomas Basin<br />
Habitat Conservation Plan ( BHCP).<br />
This plan was intended to protect suffici<br />
nt critical wildlife habitat to allow for<br />
the continued survival of both the gaIter<br />
snake and swainson hawk while allowing<br />
development to occur in the region. Unfortunately<br />
that is not what happened.<br />
In 1998, MLF joined with other environmental<br />
groups to challenge the decision<br />
of the .S. Fish & Wildli£ Service<br />
(U FWS), which has final authority over<br />
any Habitat Conservation Plan. MLF argued<br />
that the plan allowed the destruction<br />
of habitat needed for specie listed<br />
by both the state and federal governments<br />
as "threatened," while only requiring developers<br />
to pay a token fee in return.<br />
CORNER<br />
This August, the judge ruled in favor<br />
of MLF's case, invalidati ng the City of<br />
Sacramento's authority to allow developers<br />
to kill endangered species and requiring<br />
the USFWS to complete an Environmental<br />
Impact Statement (EIS) that would<br />
analyze the effects of habitat destruction<br />
on garter snakes and swainson hawks in<br />
the atomas Basin.<br />
UnfOltunately, the city and local developers<br />
have largely ignored the federal<br />
court's ruling. Sacramento, with USFWS'<br />
knowledge and acquiescence, recently issued<br />
new "guidelines" that would allow<br />
certain development projects-and the<br />
destruction of more wildlife habitat-to<br />
continue.<br />
MLF is protesting the city's actions, but<br />
development continues at breakneck speed.<br />
USFWS HOPS FORWARD BY PROPOSING<br />
RED-LEGGED FROG CRITICAL HABITAT<br />
MLF is not always in opposition to<br />
CDFG and USFWS' efforts to manage or<br />
protect California's wildlife and its habitat.<br />
There are times when we find ourselves<br />
on the same side, and when this<br />
happens it is equally important for us to<br />
publicly support the actions of these<br />
agencIes.<br />
This October, MLF did just that with a<br />
comment letter to the USFWS supporting<br />
their proposal to designate over 5.4<br />
million acres of public and pri vate land<br />
in California as critical habitat for the redlegged<br />
frog.<br />
While the final amount of land that<br />
actually ends up designated as red-legged<br />
frog habitat is sure to be drastically<br />
smaller, MLF believes that this is a great<br />
first step.<br />
•<br />
CALIFORNIA DEPARTME T OF FORESTRY<br />
DENIES DUTY TO PROTECT OAK<br />
WOODLANDS<br />
On September 5, <strong>2000</strong>, MLF and the<br />
California Oak <strong>Foundation</strong> filed a joint<br />
lawsuit against the California Department<br />
of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF),<br />
challenging their refusal to perform an<br />
environmental analysis on the impact to<br />
wildlife when oak woodland are converted<br />
to agriculture or urban uses.<br />
California's oak woodlands provide a<br />
wide array of benefits to wildlife and hu.<br />
mans alike: Oak woodlands and forest<br />
provide habitat to insectivorous birds,<br />
which in turn reduce in ect pests in adjacent<br />
agricultural and urban settings;<br />
provide habitat for deer and mountainlions;<br />
provide improved percolation to recharge<br />
local groundwater supplies; regulate<br />
and slow storm runoff from forested<br />
lands; and shade riparian areas, helping<br />
to lower stream temperature, thus protecting<br />
fish and other aquatic wildlife.<br />
nfortunately as pressure for development<br />
and expanded agriculture in the<br />
state increases, California's oak woodlands<br />
are placed increasingly at risk.<br />
Despite CDF's claim that their oversight<br />
extends only to commercial tree<br />
species-such as pine or fir-MLF believes<br />
that their refusal to regulate the<br />
removal of oaks from private lands violates<br />
the Forest Practice Act, which requires<br />
an analysis of the environmental<br />
effects prior to the issuance of any permits<br />
or approvals. We intend to work wit.<br />
the California Oak <strong>Foundation</strong> to ensure<br />
that California's oak woocUand ,which are<br />
vital mountain lion habitat, have the same<br />
protections a the state's other forests.
•MLF GIVES SAN JOAQUIN CO NTY<br />
NEIGHBORHOOD AN "F"<br />
Last August, MLF's California Legal<br />
Advocates for Wildlife Program, on behalf<br />
of the San Joaquin Audubon Society,<br />
submitted comments to the an Joaquin<br />
County Board of upervisors challenging<br />
a egative Declaration ( ego Dec.) for the<br />
eighborhood "F" Project, a subdivision<br />
within San Joaquin County's newly<br />
planned <strong>Mountain</strong> House residential community.<br />
The County's issuance of a Neg.<br />
Dec. cleared the way for developers to<br />
tart building despite the obvious environmental<br />
problems that were associated<br />
with the project.<br />
Since the preparation of the project's<br />
Master Environmental Impact Report<br />
(EIR) over six years ago, the Old River,<br />
•<br />
and the lower San Joaquin River-which<br />
will receive drainage from the projecthave<br />
been declared impaired by the State<br />
Water Resources Control Board. And, the<br />
steelhead trout, which reside in these<br />
waters, has been listed as threatened under<br />
the federal Endangered Species AcL.<br />
In addition, several upland species, including<br />
the San Joaquin kit fox and the<br />
swainson's hawk would also be adversely<br />
affected by the project.<br />
MLF's comment letter noted several<br />
legal points including the fact that the<br />
California Environmental Quality Act<br />
(CEQA) require updates to a project's<br />
Master EIR, if it is more than five years<br />
old, and new information indicates that<br />
the project may not have considered all<br />
·significant environmental impacts.<br />
MLF's ANTI-POACHING GUIDE<br />
Poaching is one of the most important issues facing wild<br />
life today. California's wildlife is being slaughtered on an<br />
alarming scale by a breed of criminal who kills wild animals<br />
illegally for money-the commercial poacher.<br />
The image of a poacher as a poor, uneducated man just trying<br />
to put meat on the table is outdated. While more traditional<br />
forms of poaching persi t-an occasional deer killed<br />
outside of hunting season, or catching a couple offish over the<br />
legal limit-killing wildlife for monetary gain has taken the<br />
carnage to new levels. Skilled, organized, and well-equipped<br />
teams ofcommercial poachers are decimating California' wildfe.<br />
The California Department of Fish and Game estimate<br />
that commercial poaching in the state is the second greatest<br />
threat to our wildlife after habitat destruction.<br />
The problem of poaching in California can be compared to<br />
thr e sides of a pyramid. On one side i the fact that illegal<br />
Despite MLF's effort, the San Joaquin<br />
County Board ofSupervisors approved the<br />
Neighborhood "F" ProjecL. nless legal<br />
action is under taken, building will begin<br />
in the near future. AlLhough MLF and<br />
San Joaquin Audubon could not make<br />
satisfactory arrangements to fund a lawsuit,<br />
Alameda County is challenging San<br />
Joaquin County's decision because of traffic<br />
mitigation issues-and has included<br />
all of the biological claims raised in our<br />
comment letter.<br />
Keith Wagner, MLF's CLAW Program<br />
Director is remaining in contact with both<br />
San Joaquin Audubon and Alameda<br />
County's aLLorneys to assi t, when possible,<br />
with CLAW's comments included<br />
in Alameda County's complaint.<br />
sale and distribution of California's wildlife i extremel lucrative.<br />
Another is the public's perception towards poaching and<br />
its unwillingness to get involved. The third is inconsistency or<br />
lack oflegal knowledge on the part of pro ecutor and judge in<br />
the conviction and sentencing of poachers. It i this last i sue<br />
that MLF is trying to change with the development of its Practitioners'Reference<br />
Guide on Criminal Enforcement of tate and<br />
Federal Wildlife Laws in California.<br />
Due for release next year, this reference guide i de ign d to<br />
be a concise, user-friendly legal tool that con olidate , organizes<br />
and cross-references a confu ing, unwield bod of law.<br />
With practical tip from successful prosecution a e , thi guide<br />
will be instrumental in making it easier for judg sand di tri t<br />
aLLorney's to prosecute, convict and punish" ildlif rim a<br />
well as for wildlife professionals and concerned laypersons to<br />
push for enhanced poaching legislation and enforc m nL. MLF<br />
MLF<br />
9
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
REMEMBER US IN<br />
YOUR WILL<br />
Everyone likes to be remembered [or somethingto<br />
gain a little slice o[ immortality.<br />
That's just human nature.<br />
Here's a way that you can be remembered forever.<br />
As part of your will, make a gift to the <strong>Mountain</strong><br />
<strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> to assist in protecting these magnificent<br />
creatures.<br />
We will, in turn, put the funds to work creating<br />
policies that preserve the lives of mountain lions and<br />
other wildlife.<br />
The gift can be made in a number of ways:<br />
MAKING ABEQUEST<br />
In writing or updating your will, you can designate the foundation as a beneficiary and may tipulate<br />
that the amount be used to support the organizations general operations or earmarked for a specific<br />
project or program.<br />
Here is some suggested language:<br />
"The <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> is a tax-exempt organization under the federal and California tax<br />
code and is located at 926 J Street, Suite 803, Sacramento, California 95814 (mailing address, Box<br />
1896, Sacramento, CA 95812)."<br />
RESTRICTED CO TRIB TION<br />
The amount of the bequest can be "undesignated," which means the foundation's Board of Directors<br />
will fi nd the best conservation use for the funds.<br />
For such an unrestricted gift, this language is suggested: "I give and bequeath to the <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong><br />
<strong>Foundation</strong> (an amount or percentage of the estate)."<br />
PROGRAM CONTRIBUTIO<br />
A bequest can be designated for a special purpose, such as a program Ii ke wildlife education,<br />
litigation, anti-poaching activities or as a contribution to the endowment.<br />
For restricted bequests, this language is suggested: "1 give and bequeath to the <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong><br />
<strong>Foundation</strong> (an amount or percentage of the estate) to be used [or the following purposes (add the<br />
purposes)." Please consult with foundation staff to make sure your objectives are feasible and achievable.<br />
ENDOWMENT CONTRIBUTION<br />
Particularly for large gifts, contributions to the foundation's endowment or endowed projects can be<br />
an excellent means of ensuring that the work continues. With an endowment, the gift is invested and<br />
the annual interest used to provide financial upport. Here is some suggested language for these kind<br />
of gifts: "1 give and bequeath to the <strong>Mountain</strong> <strong>Lion</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> (an amount or percentage of the estate)<br />
to be used for the general endowment or to endow (add specific project or program)." Again, plea<br />
check with staff before making a gift to a specific project or program.<br />
For more information on this or other ways to provide MLF with financial support, you may contact<br />
Tim Dunbar, (916-442-2666, ext. 107) or send an e-mail message to tdunbar@mountainlion.org<br />
111