NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
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34 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2015 lions that stretches from the northern plains to the Pacific Ocean. There are a few hundred mountain lions in Wyoming and South Dakota within a hundred miles of the Pine Ridge, so females – which typically disperse shorter distances – can make it from those populations from time to time. The farther you get from established populations, the fewer female dispersers you're likely to get, so we would expect females to reach the Niobrara and Wildcat Hills populations less often. The simple answer is that populations of animals are always changing. Populations grow with each new birth and they decline with every death. There are some animals that leave populations and some that come in from other areas. It wouldn't be very accurate only to subtract animals without also accounting for additions through births and immigration. The timeframe is also very important to consider. There were two years between the 2012 population estimate and the 2014 survey (see sidebar, page 33), so the population likely grew from births or immigration and then declined back down to 22 after mountain lions were harvested or killed by other means by the time we conducted our 2014 survey. It is important to make clear that our most recent population estimate only applies to the timeframe that the survey took place May and June 2014. The further away you get in time the more likely it is that the population has changed from births, deaths, immigration and/or emigration. When the Nebraska Legislature classified the mountain lion as a game animal in 1995, it signaled to the Commission that hunting of the species should be allowed if the population was large enough to sustain a harvest. This is the same criteria we use for any other species on the state's game animal list, from deer to bobcats to pheasants. State statutes also identify the Game and Parks Commission Confirmations are made through physical evidence of mountain lions including tracks, a live captured or dead cougar, photographs and DNA evidence. MAP DATA PROVIDED BY THE COUGAR NETWORK – COUGARNET.ORG The latest population estimate for the Pine Ridge Unit was unchanged from the 2012 estimate. Given that three mountain lions were harvested in that unit, and a number of mountain lions were killed by vehicles or other means, why didn't the population estimate go down? T R e w Q: Why did the Commission decide to hold a hunting season for mountain lions in Nebraska? When the W a N Q: Established Range Confi rmations outside of established range (1990 to the present) Distribution and Recent Expansion of Mountain Lions