Whether you call them a cougar, puma, mountain lion or panther, you’re talking about the same big cat, often solitary and elusive, but native to North, Central and South America. While they may be a rare sight, they are not rare and live in the Lake Tahoe Basin as well as the foothills on both the Nevada and California sides of the Sierra.
With the addition of cameras in the front and back yards of homes, mountain lions may be spotted more often, but it doesn’t mean there are more of them at the lake.
Populations of the big cat at Lake Tahoe were once in greater numbers than they are today. Historically, they follow populations of deer as one of their main predators along with coyotes and wolves. The deer population in California has seen significant, long-term declines due to severe habitat loss, drought, disease (such as EHD), increased predation, and market hunting. At the same time, some areas are seeing an overabundance.
Where you have deer, you have mountain lions. No dense population of deer means no dense population of mountain lions, said conservation biologist and author Dr. Rick Hopkins of Meyers. He has spent decades studying cougars (what he calls the big cats), and teaching others how to coexist wth them.
“It is more interesting for humans,” said Hopkins of seeing mountain lions, which have been in the landscape for a very long time.
He said they aren’t gone, though their numbers have been decimated. A dense population of mountain lions is 10 adults in 100 square miles, where for deer it is 20-25 deer per square mile. Dr. Hopkins uses the analogy of San Jose with a population of one million people in 70 square miles — they have about seven cougars roaming the city, mainly along creek beds.
Lake Tahoe has a higher density of bobcats since they live on small game like rabbits and squirrels. There can be 2-3 bobcats per square mile.
Lake Tahoe mountain lions are finding a new animal to feed on — the porcupine, whose numbers are on the increase. Humans may wonder how a mouthful of quill doesn’t disuade the big cat, but to them its part of nature, and they heal.
Wildlife, including the big cats, learn to survive, or they die. Their intelligence hasn’t been bred out of them, said Hopkins. Household pets have different personalities, and humans provide their care. Wildlife needs to make good choices. Failure to make good choices means they die.
Mountain lions have a large home range — 15 to 35 square miles for females, 50-200 square miles for males. They follow the migration patterns of deer. Larger range for both in summer, smaller in winter.
Around Lake Tahoe, one will find larger numbers of deer in the foothills, Washoe Valley, Carson Valley, Martis Valley and the Pine Nuts. Hopkins said it is difficult to know how many mountain lions are in the Lake Tahoe Basin due to the lack of sustainable deer populations.
More deer equals more mountain lions.
“Nothing stays here if it can’t make a living,” said Hopkins of wildlife, including rabbits and porcupines (sound familiar, humans?).
Road mortality is a big problem for wildlife, mountain lions included. Their habitats have become fragmented, Hopkins said, with roads and housing developments splitting up their range.
Biologist Tanya Diamond has been working in the Lake Tahoe Basin with her company, Pathways for Wildlife, along with partner Ahiga Snyder. They have been studying the region to find where wildlife cross busy roads and where they’d benefit from a special pathway to be safe near cars. They just applied for a $5 million grant to plan for a wildlife crossing on Pioneer Trail Road, a crossing on US-50, and a crossing on SR-89 Emerald Bay.
Diamond and Snyder have been recording mountain lions at several locations in the South Basin and the West Basin, and have tracked one mountain lion that used bridges to cross under US-50 and SR-89. Their goal is to select locations for wildlife crossings to funnel them into protected open spaces and not neighborhoods.
Pathways has been recording many different deer throughout the South and West Basin, which could be attracting an increase in mountain lion activity. Diamond said they are seeing them in open locations and not in neighborhoods.
“I have been seeing all the videos people have been recording on their Ring devices at home,” said Diamond. “I think this might be a young dispersing individual who is trying to find a home range. This type of neighborhood activity is common in the Santa Cruz mountains, where we also do research, when a young mountain lion has to leave their mother’s parental home range and establish their own. They often get a bit lost in human neighborhoods but eventually find an open space to reside in.”
Hopkins said that U.C. Davis did a study on wildlife road mortality, and mountain lions have a high loss of numbers due to vehicles. The work Pathways is doing can help correct that at Lake Tahoe. They’ve already been successful with crossings in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Hopkins said deer are safer in Santa Cruz as mountain lions avoid houses and are affected by noise and people. Deer hang out closer to homes where there is plenty of foliage. He said deer are found closer to homes in the West, where it is “summer stressed,” while the East is “winter stressed.”
“We complicate how they move around,” said Hopkins of roads and homes and the mountain lion. “Bobcats and coyotes can hang out closer.”
Areas like El Dorado Hills are seeing more mountain lions, but humans have contained their living area with the rapid growth of the hills around that community. Human behavior has pushed the wildlife closer together, said Hopkins.
A mountain lion attack on humans is rare, maybe two per year in all of North America. Hopkins said hikers and bikers are more likely to suffer an injury or death while recreating than falling prey to an animal. Household pets are another thing. Even though smaller than their normal prey, dogs and cats outside at dawn and dusk, and not contained, could possibly become an easy meal.
“Most deaths in nature are due to the elements,” said Hopkins.
He said there is zero risk if you don’t live in nature and don’t go outside. Understand the risks, keep informed, and be aware. Hopkins bikes on mountain trails in the Sierra and Santa Cruz and isn’t worried about mountain lions. If he were, he could just ride at a higher elevation that won’t have deer. Mountain lions are active all day, but much more so in low-light situations.
“There are many risks that are much higher,” said Hopkins of a big cat attack.
When we see a mountain lion, it’s usually because it made a mistake or was just caught by a Ring camera when it thought it was alone. Or, far more rarely, it wanted to be seen. That moment is a gift, not a threat.
This story originally appeared on Carson Now’s sister website SouthTahoeNow.com.
