Overview
- The Fish and Game Commission voted 3–0 to find listing warranted for distinct populations in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Central Coast, Santa Monica, San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Santa Ana ranges, plus the Eastern Peninsular Ranges, with formal findings and any boundary adjustments to follow.
- The designation requires agencies to evaluate and mitigate project impacts under state environmental laws and could channel funding to connectivity projects, including the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing over US‑101 expected to open later this year.
- State assessments estimate roughly 4,172 mountain lions statewide, about 947 of them within the newly protected coastal and Southern California populations.
- Regulators cited habitat fragmentation and inbreeding alongside persistent risks from vehicle collisions (estimated 70–100 deaths annually), widespread rodenticide exposure (detected in about 94% of sampled livers) and wildfire.
- Wildlife officials retain authority to issue conflict management permits for pets and livestock incidents, while builders and ranchers warn that habitat mapping and mitigation requirements could raise costs and complicate operations.