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February 17, 2007
Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the National Park Service
team up to try and confirm existence of Eastern Cougar
Cougar, also known as a Panther or Mountain Lion - USF&WS / photo by Larry Moats
I'm writing this entry from Denver, Colorado. Yesterday I was in Boulder taking my daughter to visit Colorado University. Perhaps 18 years ago during my first trip to Colorado; I saw fresh Mountain Lion tracks in a puddle in Chautauqua Park in Boulder. That moment raised my pulse rate and captured my imagination at the same time. There is something about sharing the landscape on foot with large predators that is simply magical to me. Perhaps its the awareness that I'm not at the top of the food chain. However you choose to look at it, the presence of a panther usually changes the way one looks at the hiking experience.
Another strong memory is of the time I was leaving the town of Waynesboro, VA in late May 2000 during my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. A local stopped me on the street and told me with wide-eyed wonder that Mountain Lions live in "them thar hills."
Now, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is teaming up with the National Park Service to see if the can confirm that panthers (often called painters in the Southern Appalachians) really exist here in the eastern forests. To learn more about this effort that will use remote cameras, please take a look at the article in the Roanoke Times from February 13.
Conservation | By Jeffrey Hunter | 11:37 AM
