February 1, 2025 3-5 pm Apex Predators Among Us

A big thank you to Sea Rancher Craig Tooley for taking pictures at this important meeting and to Roberta Chan and Diane Hichwa for helping to organize this meeting.
On Saturday, February 1, 2025 The Sea Ranch Forum in partnership with the Ecology subcommittee of the Sea Ranch Planning Committee held a meeting called “Apex Predators Among Us.” T. Winston Vickers spoke about mountain lions and Meghan Walla Murphy of the North Bay Bear Collaborative spoke about bears. The focus was on how humans can live peacefully in the habitat of these apex predators, and how best to minimize the chances of these animals interacting with your household. Colleen Jansen and Rick Craig spoke about efforts by The Sea Ranch Association to respond to activity by these apex predators in our home owners association. There was also testimony given by proxy for a Zero Waste specialist from Recology, and a short video from Stacy Aitchison of Sea Ranch Supply showing what they will soon have in stock to protect household garbage from bears. That video was paired with a demonstration video from Sea Rancher Pat Whelan’s “critter cam” showing how one bear reacted when encountering bear boxes. 

This event had a standing room only crowd and a large audience over Zoom as well.

The video from the recording will be added to this site once it is available. I will also send out a notification to the mailing list for the Forum at that time.

Here are some reminders about what The Sea Ranch Association (TSRA) has been doing to work on these issues.
  1. TSRA is in collaboration with experts. They are in close communication with the local wildlife biologist with California Department of Fish and Wildlife as well as Recology Operations and Zero Waste teams.
  2. Education and bear-proofing: TSRA is focusing on educating members and vacation rental properties about bear safety and supporting bear bin DCEM requests
  3. Data collection: TSRA has implemented a carnivore tracking tool to monitor and share bear activity information with authorities

Here are important actions for community residents and vacation rental management companies:
  • Trash management: Only place food waste outside on the morning of pickup. Pickup times may vary, so please be vigilant
  • Secure waste: Ensure compost, trash, and recycling are in bear-resistant containers. Consider freezing compost material until collection day
  • Food storage: Never leave food outside, including in vehicles. Remove bird feeders during bear season
  • Clean and store grills: Clean grills after each use and make sure that grease, fat and food particles are removed. Store grills and smokers in a secure area
  • Pet safety: Keep your animals leashed when outdoors
  • Report sightings for residents of The Sea Ranch: Use our Carnivore Tracking Form and review reported activity in your area via the Carnivore Awareness Map (it’s a little more than halfway down the page), which is made accessible to Fish & Wildlife for tracking purposes

You can learn about mountain lions at these websites:
 mountainlion.org/about-mountain-lions/
camountainlions.com/
wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Mountain-Lion
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The Sea Ranch Forum is not an official function of The Sea Ranch Association. It is organized by Sea Ranch members and is independent of the Board of Directors and staff.
Below is a short video made by Stacy Aitchison of Sea Ranch Supply and a video from Sea Rancher Pat Whelan of a bear reacting to bear boxes.
This video about mountain lions was mentioned in the talk:
Helpful handouts from Bearwise.org
The Sea Ranch Forum is not an official function of The Sea Ranch Association. It is organized by Sea Ranch members and is independent of the Board of Directors and staff.