Re: How Many Lions Die When a Female is Killed
Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:47 am
sourdoughs fire suppression comment is dead on here. we have areas that have historically carried good prey and cat numbers but one or the other gov. agencies has stopped every little fire to come up.
now this area has been influenced greatly by fires many native plants wont germinate new seeds unless exposed to one or more of the conditions following a fire. their lack of growth has changed the forage base by limiting the regrowth of native suppressing nonnatives that are cleared by fire and letting non native species establish in unburned areas.
Some of these managers have started to reestablish the average burns of once every three years but it has resulted in areas with immense built up fuel loads sterilizing the soil. as it burns hotter and longer then the native species average three year growth.
The answer to this is very labor intensive and requires some thought and follow through also. Having seen some private land and lease land that has been intelligently reestablished through burning drives it's effectiveness home. aerial photo's taken years ago show a completely different ecosystem one that obviously supported a greater range and number of wildlife.
if those large areas that this type of management is still possible on could be encouraged to proceed. along with establishing safe "from development" corridors from one population center to the other, I believe it would boost and stabilize all of our range based resources. including water harvest, which I believe in this region and political climate is probably the strongest motivator. using another lobby to carry us is probably a wise idea at this point.
those ranches that have done this have shown a huge increase in cat and prey numbers while still increasing beef out put.
the jaguars are thought to suffer more from lack of travel corridors then hunting and lack of home ranges/prey at this time. this could very possibly affect mtn. lions to a lesser extent also. they are showing adaptability but it seems to be slightly behind the human population growth curve in many areas. if we could slow that and allow them to catch up and stabilize it most likely would make a huge impact.
now this area has been influenced greatly by fires many native plants wont germinate new seeds unless exposed to one or more of the conditions following a fire. their lack of growth has changed the forage base by limiting the regrowth of native suppressing nonnatives that are cleared by fire and letting non native species establish in unburned areas.
Some of these managers have started to reestablish the average burns of once every three years but it has resulted in areas with immense built up fuel loads sterilizing the soil. as it burns hotter and longer then the native species average three year growth.
The answer to this is very labor intensive and requires some thought and follow through also. Having seen some private land and lease land that has been intelligently reestablished through burning drives it's effectiveness home. aerial photo's taken years ago show a completely different ecosystem one that obviously supported a greater range and number of wildlife.
if those large areas that this type of management is still possible on could be encouraged to proceed. along with establishing safe "from development" corridors from one population center to the other, I believe it would boost and stabilize all of our range based resources. including water harvest, which I believe in this region and political climate is probably the strongest motivator. using another lobby to carry us is probably a wise idea at this point.
those ranches that have done this have shown a huge increase in cat and prey numbers while still increasing beef out put.
the jaguars are thought to suffer more from lack of travel corridors then hunting and lack of home ranges/prey at this time. this could very possibly affect mtn. lions to a lesser extent also. they are showing adaptability but it seems to be slightly behind the human population growth curve in many areas. if we could slow that and allow them to catch up and stabilize it most likely would make a huge impact.