CALIFORNIA - Mountain Lion Foundation

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A mountain lion's best friend Board Profile: Margaret W Owings, the inspiration behind the fight F rom the lofty perch of her home, located some 500 feet above the crashing Pacific surf near Big Sur, Board Chair Margaret W Owings continues to prove that one individual can make a difference. For over 40 years Margaret has spearheaded action on conservation issues that have resulted in protection for California's mountain lions, sea lions, sea otters and preservation of lands that represent the unique diversity found in California. Margaret's story is one of an individual who has never hesitated to use her voice, her pen or her paintbrush in the fight to save the wild places and wild creatures that have meant the most to her. A noted artist and writer it is for her work in conservation and wildlife protection that she is perhaps best known. Margaret has played a critical role in the 26-year-long battle to ensure protection for California's mountain lions. Her passion for the issue was stirred by an occurance that happened not far from her home. Margaret had long enjoyed seeing mountain lion tracks and hearing the lion's curious whistle near her home. Part of the privilege of living in Big Sur was being able to enjoy a shared environment with such a magnificent and secretive neighbor. It was in 1962 that a mountain lion was treed and killed near her home. When Margaret saw the photograph of the proud hunter collecting his $100 bounty check beaming at the fine young male lion he had killed, she was determined that that lion would not die in vain. She quickly applied the same political skills that she had leamed several years earlier in her successful campaign to save the sea lions living along the California coast from hunters. She went directly to Senator Fred Farr of Carmel and asked him to draw up a bill to stop the bounty. In Margaret's own words it was "mutiny on the bounty" during a long legislative battle that finally brought an end to bounty payments for mountain lions in the summer of 1963. During the bounty period, 1907 to 1963, over 12,400 lions were killed. Unfortunately, the battle was far from over. The mountain lion was now a non- Ir was a photo similar to this one that inspired Margaret W Owings to take action in 1962 to stop bounty payments for lions. Page 2 protected animal and could be shot at random. In 1969 the Department of Fish and Game classified the mountain lion as a big game animal supposedly to "stop the indiscriminate killing of lions" but their sale of 50 cent tags allowed hunters to kill as many lions as they wanted, whenever and wherever they liked. The season on mountain lions was open year-round. By this time, public awareness of the mountain lion issue was increasing. Several organizations and many people involved in wildlife protection had joined together to protect California's lions. Political and public pressure to protect lions was mounting. Finally, in 1972, a moratorium on the trophy hunting of mountain lions which allowed adequate protection for livestock was passed. Over a sixteen year period Margaret continued to be instrumental in ensuring that mountain lions received the protection they deserved. When in 1986, due to political pressure from the NRA, Governor Deukmejian vetoed legislation extending the trophy hunting moratorium, Margaret joined the Foundation's board to help gain permanent protection for lions once and for all. Truly Margaret Owings is an inspiration for the fight to preserve California's last great predator, the magnificent mountain lion. She has been the backbone and the inspiration for the Foundation's efforts to assure that the mountain lion is permanently protected. It is exciting to see that after twenty-six years of fighting the mountain lion may finally win that protection. Her lifetime of dedication to speaking out against the senseless slaughter of mountain lions is living proof that one individual can make a difference. California's mountain lions, all of us and future generations can all be thankful that in 1962 Margaret made up her mind that the bountied lion killed near her home would not die in vain. - Laurie 1. Martin
And the winners are..... The majestic beauty and elusive nature of the mountain lion have long enchanted artists and over the last few years artists and photographers have contacted us wanting to donate their creative energies to the Foundation. Due to this incredible response and our need to use mountain lion artwork for educational and promotional materials we have just sponsored our first annual Mountain Lion Art and Photography Contest! Judging and a reception were held in Sacramento on April 19. Prizes ranged from a river trip for two to a sterling silver mountain lion pin to an autographed book by Peter Matthiessen. We would like to thank all of our many entrants and to congratulate the winners. FIRST SECOND THIRD ""OURTH ART Sallie Zydek Jacquin Marie Vaux Karen Brackstone-Fryer Judy Wilmot FIRST PHOTOGRAPHY SECOND THIRD Mark Davidson Dee Dollinger Dee Dollinger First place photo - Mark Dal'idsoll "A mountain lion's track, the size ofa man's closed fist, pressed on the dusty road near the mailbox - or the curious whistle from this great animal, softly communicating with one ofits kin deep in the shadows by the running stream below our house. These moments touch the quick! For many years I have been privileged to live in lion country with its overwhelming sense ofthe sea below, the dry scent ofsage and chaparral on the sun-bleached slopes, the knolls ofbay trees and the dark hush of redwood canyons. These secretive cats with the golden-green eyes also know this world thoroughly and patrol each rocky outcropping and each canyon wall more intensively and more intimately than we can conceive. Thus, Big Sur is a shared world, although many are totally unaware that this lion can live harmoniously but shyly in close proximity to man." From The Lion in Monterey County Margaret W Owings Foundation Board Chair
Page 4: Foundation research pounces on myth

CALIFORNIA - Mountain Lion Foundation

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