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valleysentinel.com
July 2012
VOL 17, NO 7
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
SPOTLIGHT
SRVUSD Board Names New Superintendent
Mary Shelton succeeds Steven Enoch as the new leader of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District Mary Shelton, the San Ramon Va l l e y U n i f i e d School District’s new Superintendent of Schools, replaces Steven Enoch, who retired after 4 years as Superintendent for SRVUSD and 40 years in public education. Shelton joined the district effective July 1. “We had an exceptional pool of candidates to select from, with applicants from throughout California and across the country. Mary Shelton quickly rose to the top,” said Board President Greg Marvel. “She has a proven track record as an effective educational leader and consensus builder.
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Graduating Monte Vista Seniors who will be competing in college athletics (see article page 7) Top Row L to R: Janet Terranova, Principal, Monte Vista High School, Jack McFarland, Dan Gallagher, Drew Feldman, Trevor Furhiman, Alex Bizzack, Tony DeMartino, Kevin Wexler, Tyler Nevins, Jeff Lockie, Ryan Neil, Makay Redd, Craig Bergman, Athletic Director, Debon Salgado, Dan Scritchfield, Nick Sherrif, Larry Beil, Monte Vista Dad. Middle Row L to R: Ashley Hertz, Anne Kelly, Chrisina Coffin, Shannon Low, Montana Berg, Angelyn Brown, Taylor James, Megan Harder, Rachel Mitchell, Paige Southmayd, Kyle Bowser. Front Row L to R: Jack Peterson, Gus Gradinger, Sam Lagnon, Casey Sbrana, Lexy Troup, Malia Malin, Cameron Parsons. (Photo by Monica Colvin of Creative Imaging)
Mountain Lions–The Mysterious American Cat By James Hale
The mountain lion, puma or cougar (Puma concolor) is an apex predator still coexisting with us in the east San Francisco Bay area. They are a “keystone species” that reflect the health of the environment by their mere presence. In Contra Costa and Alameda Counties mountain lions are faced with several challenges, particularly the fracturing of their habitat. They require large tracts of land for their territories and home range. Our freeways and suburbanization have divided the region into isolated, disjunct areas where a mountain lion must navigate through these ecological barriers to find a preferred habitat. Vehicles are the second leading cause of death for these animals in California. Occasionally, as they follow deer, their primary prey,
into our backyards or cities, they pose a potential public health concern. Unfortunately, the offending individual is usually a dispersing subadult or transient in search of its own territory and is dispatched. That has been the case in recent years in both north Berkeley and Livermore. None of these animals exhibited aggressive or threatening behavior towards humans. A “mountain lion response matrix” is needed where a trained team of wildlife biologists, California Department of Fish and Game wardens, animal control personnel and law enforcement officers are the first responders who escort or allow the wayward cat to retreat back to their habitat. This concept could be developed and implemented into a statewide
or regional standard protocol for dealing with human-lion encounters. Your chances of being attacked by a mountain lion in California are extremely low. There have been fewer than 20 people attacked by mountain lions in California since 1890. For comparison, one is 1000 times more likely to be struck by lightning and 500 times more likely to be attacked and killed by a domestic dog. Most alleged mountain lion sightings are domestic cats misidentified as lions at a distance, golden retrievers, bobcats or coyotes. Mountain lions have learned to coexist with us undetected. The East Bay Area has excellent mountain lion habitat in our East Bay Regional Parks, Mount Diablo State Park, CCWD
and EBMUD watersheds, open space districts, and county and city parks. In suburban areas, riparian zones and creeks provide ribbons of significant habitat for wildlife and their movements. Several researchers, including myself, are looking into the identification, preservation and conservation of wildlife corridors that allow safe passage for large mammals such as the mountain lion.
This month’s Special Sections:
Senior Living pages 8-10 Home Improvement page 11
See MOUNTAIN LION page 13