SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS — The Santa Cruz Mountains are home to plenty of iconic species, from banana slugs to redwood trees. But the king of the mountains, reigning over rabbits and black-tailed deer, is the mountain lion.
Around 50 pumas patrol the forested areas of Santa Cruz County, occasionally startling people by showing up in towns or suburban areas. The big cats, a keystone species in the mountains, keep deer populations in check, maintain ecosystem balance and are considered icons in many mountain communities. To ensure the long-term survival of mountain lions, the California Fish and Game Commission is slated to vote to list the animals as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act at a meeting this month.
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In California, mountain lions face increasing dangers — rat poison infiltrates their food and water sources and cars on freeways can strike the creatures down. The biggest threats to the animals are the freeways that cut through their habitat, isolating them from other populations and diminishing their chances to reproduce.
For years, environmental advocates have worked to secure protections for California’s most imperiled mountain lion populations, including those residing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 2020, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to enact temporary protections for these six populations. In December 2025, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended that the commission make those temporary protections permanent. That vote will take place at a two-day commission meeting Feb. 11 and 12.
“The state is listening to the science,” said Tiffany Yap, a conservation scientist and urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that advocates for the conservation of threatened species. “And that, I think, is really exciting, really gratifying.”
The long process of securing protections for mountain lions kicked off after a series of studies in 2018 and 2019 found that some California mountain lion populations were in trouble. They were suffering from a phenomenon known as habitat fragmentation, in which roads and developments isolate groups of mountain lions from each other. The isolation led to inbreeding and small, genetically distinct populations with poor genetic health and diversity.
Seeing these studies, Yap and other staff from the Center for Biological Diversity decided to take action. The nonprofit petitioned the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to consider listing certain populations across the state as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act. This listing would come with protections for the big cats, as well as potentially bringing in more funding for research and conservation efforts.
The protections include prohibiting take of the animals in most cases, meaning humans may not harm or kill mountain lions except for in specific circumstances. Agencies and developers would also be required to minimize and mitigate impacts to the animals. If the animals are listed, California Department of Fish and Wildlife would be allowed to create a recovery plan to help stabilize the endangered populations.
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The cats advanced to candidacy status in 2020, granting them some temporary protections. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife spent years reviewing the proposal and the mountain lion populations’ statuses, bringing in multiple outside experts to weigh in on the science. Finally, in December 2025, the department announced that based on its status review of the mountain lions, protections were warranted under the state’s Endangered Species Act. The protections that have been in place since 2020 will become permanent if the Fish and Game Commission votes to list the six mountain lion populations as endangered.
Chris Wilmers, a researcher at UC Santa Cruz, was one of the outside experts who reviewed the Center for Biological Diversity proposal and worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to provide input on how to improve it. He is also the principal investigator of the Santa Cruz Puma Project. The project is a collaboration between UCSC and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The group of scientists captures mountain lions and fits them with GPS collars. The researchers then track the animals for weeks, months or even years. Among the group’s many goals are understanding the impacts of habitat fragmentation and human interaction on the Santa Cruz Mountains’ puma population.
Wilmers has found significant genetic evidence of inbreeding in the small, isolated population of cats in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Highway 101, and the development along the freeway, cuts off Santa Cruz area mountain lions from the animals in the Diablo and Gabilan ranges in the east and southeast. Lack of contact with other populations leads to inbreeding depression, Wilmers said, and could eventually result in the extinction of the isolated populations.
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That’s why, for pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains and across the state, wildlife connectivity is key. Efforts to connect genetically distinct populations of mountain lions could see more incoming funds if the groups are listed as endangered, Yap said. Some of those dollars could go toward land acquisition, the purchase of critical mountain lion habitat to prevent it from being developed. Aside from that, other ways of improving wildlife connectivity — such as keeping wildlife in mind when creating developments in their habitat and building tunnels underneath freeways or bridges above them that allow animals to cross safely — are some of the most promising options. Some wildlife crossings have already been built in the area, including the Laurel Curve underpass, a $12 million project taken on by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and partially funded by Caltrans.
Wildlife-conscious development and wildlife crossings can help connect the pumas in the Santa Cruz Mountains with those in the Diablo and Gabilan ranges. With a larger population, genetic health should improve.
Though many people fear mountain lions, there are endless reasons to work toward the species’ continued health, Yap said. As keystone species and apex predators, the animals control deer and rodent populations. Their kills feed other mammals, birds and scavengers such as beetles, which in turn improve soil and plant health. Mountain lions also influence the behavior of other animals. When the big cats are around, deer are less likely to eat plants all the way down to the root, instead moving from place to place and nibbling as they go. Such feeding behavior can prevent sediment from running off into creeks, ensuring clean water and healthy habitat for fish and other animals.
“(Mountain lions) really affect the world around them,” Yap said. “They have this critical role that can support the biodiversity of a given area, which is beneficial for us.”
The California Fish and Game Commission will vote on whether listing mountain lion populations as endangered is warranted during its Feb. 11 and 12 meeting. To learn more and view the meeting agenda, visit fgc.ca.gov.
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