On March 15, 2011 it was my honor to be interviewed by Julie West of the Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) which is based in Sacramento, California, as part of their “ON AIR” podcast series. The topic of my interview was “Native Americans and Mountain Lions.” MLF is a national nonprofit conservation and education organization dedicated to increasing understanding of, and protection for mountain lions (cougars) and their habitat. MLF is one of the oldest and most respected grassroots environmental activist groups in the nation. In 1990 they spearheaded a successful effort to pass the California Wildlife Protection Act – Proposition 117 – landmark legislation that permanently banned the sport hunting of cougars in California, restricted the depredation killing of cougars, and set aside $30 million dollars annually in state funding to acquire and protect critical habitat for all wildlife species. The passage of this law was necessitated by decades of state mismanagement of mountain lions, and reflected a true “grassroots” movement on the part of the citizens of California.
The audio and transcript of this interview can be accessed through the MLF main website – www.mountainlion.org. This interview is also permanently archived.