Type: report

Article abstract: This cougar (Puma concolor; puma, mountain lion) study is headed by Dr. Winston Vickers of the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis. Dave Garcelon leads the northeastern California part of the study. Dr. Vickers prepared this report. Since 2001, this study has been conducted in Orange, Riverside, and San Diego Counties in southern California south of Los Angeles, and incorporates mountainous areas including the Santa Ana Mountains portion of the Peninsular Ranges (west of I-15) and the eastern Peninsular Mountain Ranges east of I-15 (Figure 1). In late 2015, an amendment to our SCP was submitted to allow expansion of the study scope and region to study of cougar ecology and interactions with pronghorn antelope in the northeastern corner of California (Modoc, Lassen, and Siskiyou Counties) (Figure 2). This second part of our study is being conducted in collaboration with, and with the support of, Dave Garcelon and the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS). The SCP amendment was approved in January 2016 and trail camera monitoring and puma capture and GPS collaring activities, along with feeding site investigations, have been conducted since that time.