Highways, roadways, and railways isolate animals, prevent them from reaching needed food and water, causing genetic isolation, and make populations vulnerable to natural disasters. And as you’ll hear today, the impacts go much deeper, and sometimes in surprising directions.

My guest Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation and Save LA Cougars tells the astonishing story of how a Los Angeles mountain lion named P-22 triggered a cascade of support leading to one of the most ambitious wildlife crossings ever conceived - the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.

Beth tells how P-22 helped the second largest city in the USA wake up to the fact that we need to find ways to coexist with nature. We discuss some of the details of wildlife crossing design such as pros and cons of overpass crossings vs tunnels and culverts, and how design can be used to influence animals to use the crossings.

Beth also describes many surprising ways that wildlife crossings help improve ecosystems and the food web. Even plants need connectivity, and even some bird species are negatively impacted by highways.

Beth also authored the book “When Mountain Lions are Neighbors”, which was influential in my progression as a nature advocate.

You can find Beth online at bethpratt.com, Twitter, and Facebook. And of course, you can also find P-22, the talented mountain lion that he is, on Twitter and Facebook.

More links and photos in the FULL SHOW NOTES

Related Episodes and Content
#20 Dr. Yiwei Wang
#35 Ben Goldfarb
#37 Dr. Stuart Weiss
Dr. Merav Vonshak's newt roadkill awareness efforts

Books
Cougar: Ecology and Conservation by Maurice Hornocker, Sharon Negri
Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat's Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg
When Mountain Lions are Neighbors by Beth Pratt

Other
Annenberg Foundation
Puma Profiles
SaveLACougers.org
The Badger and Coyote Video

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Music: Spellbound by Brian Holtz Music
License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Artist site: https://brianholtzmusic.com

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