COSF Speaker Beth Pratt to Share Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing News on March 11

Published by Steve Clark on 02/26/2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thousand Oaks, California – February 16, 2021

Beth Pratt, the National Wildlife Federation’s California regional executive director and lifelong wildlife advocate, will kick off the 2021 Conejo Open Space Foundation’s free virtual Speaker Series on March 11 at 6:30 p.m. Pratt has spearheaded the efforts to raise funds and public support for a wildlife crossing over the 101 freeway at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills. The crossing, which COSF has pledged $10,000 toward, will ensure the safety and genetic diversity of the area’s mountain lions and other wild animals. With Caltrans finalizing design and engineering plans in July, construction should begin in late 2021.

Pratt, who sports a tattoo of the famous Griffith Park mountain lion P-22, will discuss the importance of connectivity and wildlife crossings, and give an update on the #SaveLACougars campaign. With the 101, 405, and other major roadways essentially trapping them in an island environment, what are the future prospects for our native pumas? “As someone who spent most of my career working in remote wilderness areas, my main priority is now urban wildlife conservation and creating co-existence strategies in our human spaces,” says Pratt.

Author of When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California (2016), and I Heart Wildlife: A Guided Activity Journal for Connecting with the Wild World (2020), Pratt has served as NWF regional executive director since 2011. Prior to that, she was the director of environmental affairs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts in Yellowstone National Park, which she came to from the nonprofit Yosemite Association (now Yosemite Conservancy), where she was vice president/CFO. Pratt graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with bachelor’s degrees in management and biological anthropology. She also holds an MBA from Regis University in Denver.

Held quarterly since 2019, the Speaker Series has included Hollywood historian Harry Medved, wildlife experts Dr. Seth Riley and Dr. Jessica Sanchez, and National Park Service fire ecologist Marti Witter.

Participants can register for the program at COSF’s website https://www.cosf-test.org/events/register/. (Although this is a free event, COSF encourages a $10 donation to support future Speaker Series presentations.)