All About Ojai: Urban Carnivores
Update 7/79/15:
Thank you to Jenny Fitzgerald who gave a fantastic talk about mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains a few weeks ago for our All About Ojai series. For those of you that wanted more information on the Liberty Canyon puma crossing project, here is a short film about it:
ALL ABOUT OJAI: Environmental Learning Series
Saturday, June 20, 2015
10:00 am
OVLC Office
370 W. Baldwin Road
Bldg. A4
JENNY FITZGERALD
Wildlife in our Backyard: The Urban Carnivore Project
Join Jenny Fitzgerald in the OVLC Offices at 10 AM on Saturday, June 20, for a fascinating exploration of the increasing challenges faced by mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes due to urbanization.
Ms. Fitzgerald will cover the history of the Urban Carnivore Project at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SAMO), their current work and where the project is headed. The talk will focus on the three species under study (bobcats, coyotes, and mountain lions) and how they catch and collar them and what the capture and collaring process looks like. The main emphasis will be on the 40+ lions that have been tagged since the project began and why the areas they live in are unique to the species.
We will also look at how our mountains in Ojai are connected to the SAMO study areas and why maintaining connectivity between natural spaces is vital for lions and all species. Each lion has a unique story and Ms. Fitzgerald will share some of the highlights and pictures including the famous P22 (pictured above) who lives in Griffith Park and the siblings whose pictures recently went viral after safely crossing the 101 freeway.
Jenny Fitzgerald grew up in Ithaca, NY and stayed there to get her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. After college she moved to Jackson, Wyoming where she worked as a Bear Management Ranger in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), interned with the Teton Cougar Project, wrote educational materials for The Cougar Fund and guided wildlife tours in GTNP and Yellowstone. Currently she is a Carnivore Intern with the Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area (SAMO) studying Mountain Lions, Bobcats and Coyotes in and around the Santa Monica Mountains/LA area.
This All About Ojai event is free to members and students and $10 for non-members. Space is limited so reservations are required. To register contact Marti Reid at 805-649-6852 ext.2 or marti@ovlc.org.
