Eastern Mountain Lion Declared Extinct

[goeduck]

Friend of mine logged an acre or so several years ago. Logger would no take anything larger than 45", no mills around now that can handle anything larger!
I remember touring the Wherhouser Mill B in Everrett WA when I was in forestry school, it was designed for minimum 6' diameter logs. They were cutting 3' -4' stuff that day, looked like tooth picks in that headsaw!

In a strange way the retooling to smaller logs is partially what is saving the old growth forests. Not a bad thing.

 

[goeduck]

We see a cougar about once every 3 years on my property about an hour away. Black bear once most every year and a bobcat once every 5 years or so. Deer every day, elk sometimes.

 

[GregbkH]

In Wisconsin we have quite a few more animals now than when I was a kid. For example, turkeys, wolves and mountain lions. All have been or still are on the land I own. I don't particularly care for the wolves or mountain lions but so far they haven't been a problem for me as they have elsewhere in the state.

I just hope that their population can be kept in check without all the interference buy outside groups.

 

[s219]

We knew there were mountain lions nearby when I was a kid growing up in Burlington CT, in fact there was a kid at school that was into photography and had managed to get some decent pictures of them. This was in the 1970s. Were those in fact western cougars that had come East?? At the time, and since, I think the official CT state opinion was there there were no mountain lions in CT even though you'd occasionally hear about sightings or cars hitting one in the newspapers. Wonder if those were western cougars? I am not so sure they were specific about east/west back then, just that there were "none". I never believed it since I had seen actual photos.

Whatever the case, I agree we have been poor stewards of the environment -- land, trees, and animals. We tend not to recognize that sort of thing until it's too late. And we tend to balk at government regulation, but in some cases I can see why we have it. Around here, the big issue is the Chesapeake Bay Act, which now prevents us from clearing land within 100' of the waterline. It's a pain to deal with and puts a lot of restrictions on landowners. But when I see what people did in the past decades -- clearing, farming, harvesting timber right to the water's edge -- and the resulting erosion and sedimentation -- I understand why we have these new laws. People really had no restraint in the old days. It was all about getting whatever resources they wanted and who cares about the consequences.

The land we bought and built on was logged over and over since the 1800s. In many places, the erosion was so severe after the land was clear cut that there are 6-8' deep "cuts" where runoff eroded and formed ravines that run to the river. Geologically, it can take thousands of years for that sort of thing to happen naturally. But if you log land and don't take care of it afterwards, it can happen in months or years. I have been able to study aerial photographs going back to 1937, and you can see many of these problem areas as a direct result of the logging activity. It's crazy. The bad part is that all that sediment went straight into the river. Apparently when English settlers came here in the 1600s (I'm right near where John Smith was captured by Indians) the water was so clear you could see down 15-20'. Now you can't see down more than 1-2'.

 

[wawajake]

yes and a another help would be the USA not putting up major trade barriers to Canadian lumber so that your box stores would have much more decent 2x4's without bark on two sides. My wife works in the logging industry here, and strict logging practices improved since the 60's now has Canada having more trees now than it did in the 60's.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

There were always rumors of Mountain lions in Oklahoma; especially where I grew up in Major County. I never saw one, but one night coming home from the skating rink, I heard something scream (I was probably 7 or 8 miles from any town) that made a believer out of me. There have been some spotted within 20 miles of our house and they have them on camera. I saw something the other day that certainly has me wondering; I live near a creek, and got a glimpse of what I thought was a big yellow dog running down into the creek...but I noticed the long tail, and it didn't run like a dog, it was very graceful and low to the ground. I only had about a two second look, so I can't be sure, but my guess is it was a Mountain Lion.

When I was growing up, the depression meat hunters had pretty well wiped out the deer population in this state. I only recall seeing one in the wild, drinking from a stock tank. I did a lot of hunting, and night driving, so if they were out there I would have seen them. The last 15 or 20 years, deer have gotten so plentiful, they eat our flowers, graze on our garden and ruin the saplings in the yard. You don't dare drive fast at night, for fear of hitting one. They are hit along the Interstate all of the time. Bottom line, there's plenty of deer if that's what they eat to sustain a large population.

Officials: Two mountain lions spotted in Oklahoma | KFOR.com

 

[prichard]

Or less. I’ve got 2x4s with bark on 4 sides.

But those are trees grown specifically for that purpose not clear cutting of natural forest.

 

[rekees4300]

Really sad, Humans have no right to extinct entire species.

Just one of hundreds that have been wiped out by humans in the past 500 years.

Humans Caused 322 Animal Extinctions - Seeker

 

[PJSprog]

Yes, its a mountain lion. But its not an eastern mountain lion. It's a genetically different species. They've found them in Illinois in recent years. But they are the western species, all young males, probably seeking new territory.

Yeah, that's been a hot topic in Illinois. They've been unseen here for a long time, and now over the last few years there have been several sightings. Closest sighting to us was about 100 mile south.

We do see quite a few bobcats in our area. I'll see one very so often, but never seen one on our property. Not at all the same as a lion, though.

 

[kcflhrc]

Mountain Lions are pretty reclusive creatures. You will rarely see one in the wild. We walked up on one back in 1975 while duck hunting, it was bedded down behind the pond dam. You talk about pucker factor. All involved were scared $hitless. It ran off into the woods and that was the first and only one I have seen in Kansas. Lots of Bob Cats and Coyotes though. But even then you rarely see a Bob Cat. Tracks are about all I ever see. Now we have those **** Armadillos moving in from OK.