Our next meeting will be Monday, February 17th, 7PM at the Caspar Community Center 15051 Caspar Rd, Caspar, CA 95420.

The Mountain Lion - Myth, Mystery, and Natural History of Mendocino's Apex Predator

The Mountain lion, a secretive and predominantly solitary by nature, is a native species to the Americas. It is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. Due to its historical wide range, it has many names including puma, catamount, mountain lion, and cougar. It is an adaptable species occurring in most of California's habitat types. Sightings have recently been increasing throughout the State as more people visit parks, urban growth expands into undeveloped areas, and more people employ motion activated cameras and surveillance equipment. Even though these reports of mountain lion sightings are increasing, fatal attacks on humans remain rare.

Scott Koller is a Wildlife Biologist earning his Wildlife Management degree from Humboldt State University in 1983 with an emphasis in Forestry.

His career embraces thirty-eight years as a State of California Field Biologist. The diversity of work assignments through the years took him, with his wife and children in tow, to many of California's geographical regions and varied landscapes overseeing the management and conservation of listed, sensitive, game and non-game wildlife, and their habitats.

He recently retired after twenty years as the Mendocino Wildlife Unit Manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife where he worked with all wildlife - fur and feathers- in what he considers is the best Unit in California for satisfying his passion for wildlife management.