Griffith Park Lecture Series

Presented by Friends of Griffith Park

Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Griffith Park's Mountain Lion P22:

helping it survive and thrive in our great urban wilderness

Guest Speaker: Seth Riley, Wildlife Ecologist, National Park Service.

On February 12, 2012, Griffith Park Natural History Survey cameras captured a mountain lion moving towards Griffith Park -- the first known photos of this secretive carnivore within the Santa Monica Mountains east of the Hollywood Freeway/Cahuenga Pass. The documented presence of this solitary, territorial creature indicates that Griffith Park is more connected to nearby open space than once thought -- and challenges us to manage our shrinking urban habitat in a way that will allow wild creatures' continued existence. This illustrated lecture presents the ecology of mountain lions...their role in the food chain, their life on the urban fringe, and how we can co-exist with them safely. It also discusses the Griffith Park Natural History Survey, a grassroots scientific endeavor that in five short years has become the most comprehensive repository of information about the Park's native animals and plants.