Mountain Lions in the East Bay Hills: Why Conservationists Should Care About Knowland Park

Living with Lions in the Urban Wildland Interface

Mountain lion in Tilden Park. Photo by Jim Hale

From the point of view of a mountain lion, Knowland canyon sits at a key crossroads: to the north and south are the East Bay Regional Park District’s ridgeline parks extending in a nearly unbroken 25-mile chain from El Sobrante south to San Leandro.  To the east is San Leandro Reservoir and to the west is Knowland Park.  These north-south and east-west axes afford mountain lions critical migratory corridors of sufficient size to accommodate portions of their large home ranges.

Like other locations around the region, the East Bay hills have seen a rise in sightings of mountain lions (also known as cougars or pumas) in recent years.  While these may seem like random and isolated events, they are actually part of a change in pattern that wildlife biologists have begun to study and document.  According to wildlife biologist, Jim Hale, the mountain lions are following their favorite prey, the black-tailed deer.  He surmises that a large portion of the deer population has migrated westward across the hills in response to the succulent vegetation found in abundance in private gardens and public parks.

Carcass of deer killed by a mountain lion in Knowland Park. Photo by Laura Baker

The canyon including Knowland Park is one such key location.  Carcasses of deer killed by mountain lions have been found in back yards in Knowland canyon and in the park by Hale, who has been documenting the movement of these large cats throughout the Bay Area for many years.  The photo shows a deer carcass,  the remains of a mountain lion kill found this year less than 50 feet from the proposed site of the Interpretive Center of the zoo expansion project.  Perhaps because it is a city park unknown and unlisted, Knowland Park has not been on the radar screen for its  role in helping to maintain this top predator. In fact the general study of how wildlife is using the urban wildland landscape fragmented by development has only really begun in earnest quite recently.

The Role of Top Predators in Healthy Ecosystems

In 1969 Dr. Joe McBride of UC Berkeley completed his doctoral dissertation that  described a landscape level of change that he had observed while studying the process of plant succession in the East Bay hills: live oak woodlands  succeeding to bay laurel trees. (1)  The key factor was the absence of apex or top predators which historically kept in check the black-tailed deer that preferred to feed on acorns and oak seedlings.  Without the mountain lion controlling the deer population, bay laurel could  out- compete the oaks.  Although McBride’s work was of interest to botanists and plant ecologists, it was at best a footnote for wildlife biologists.

Much more recently, researchers have begun to explore other ripple effects  through ecosystems caused by the absence of apex predators.  One such impact is the phenomenon of mesopredator release.  Mesopredators are intermediate size carnivores such as  coyotes, bobcats, skunks, raccoons, foxes, opossums, and feral cats that occupy the “middle” of the food chain.

In 2009, researchers described how ecosystems and natural communities are destabilized by the increasing populations of mesopredators that are unleashed from predation and competition when apex predators such as wolves, bears, and mountain lions are no longer present. (2) Without the apex predator, prey populations including songbirds, small mammals, and reptiles and amphibians are decimated by mesopredators, especially in urban wildland areas where human habitation provides food and shelter to them. In a recent article, Bay Nature explored the topic of mesopredator release in the Bay Area. (3) Of all mammalian top predator species that once existed in the Bay Area, only mountain lions are able to co-exist here today with human beings.

For those who may feel a little nervous at the thought of mountain lions so nearby, it is important to know that mountain lions prefer to avoid humans whenever possible. The chances of being attacked by a mountain lion are far less than the chances of being struck by lightning. Mountain lions are solitary creatures that move and hunt quietly and keep themselves and their young well-hidden.  Bears, by comparison, are a much greater threat near human habitation, as they are more likely to get into garbage and create problems with aggressive behavior.

Why Knowland Park Should Be Protected as Part of a Regional Network

Knowland Park’s diverse and relatively intact native plant communities, including the rare chaparral and native grasslands, coastal scrub, oak woodlands, and riparian corridor of Arroyo Viejo watershed, which themselves are intrinsically worthy of protection, also provide an array of wildlife habitat.  In addition to the mountain lions and mesopredators mentioned above, there is a rich array of amphibians, lizards and  snakes, (including the state and federally-listed Alameda whipsnake) found in the grasslands, chaparral and creeks.   Smaller mammals such as wood rats, mice, voles, moles, shrews,  brush rabbits, and pocket gophers provide an abundant prey base, and diverse songbirds and raptors forage in the park.

Knowland Park is a stunning example of the opportunity to protect, conserve, and study a rare resource. Protecting the park also serves the wider regional conservation interests. Last year the Bay Area Open Space Council released  “The Conservation Lands Network,”  a landmark effort to prioritize protection of the Bay Area’s remaining open space lands to create a network of habitat sufficient to support the existing native flora and fauna. (4)

Mountain lions were chosen as one of the focal species because their large habitat requirements help  organize planning on a landscape level.  They are also an important conservation target:  California is the only state to grant fully protected status to the mountain lion.

Key to the network’s success in this fragmented landscape is the concept of critical linkages between large landscape blocks of  habitat like the East Bay hills.  A second study to be released this spring highlights where corridors such as the one that links Knowland Park to Chabot Park and beyond to San Leandro Reservoir connect to even larger areas of habitat like Mount Hamilton  so that they may remain open and protected.

According to the Conservation Lands Network report, “All local population estimates [of mountain lions] are well below thresholds for environmental variability, and many are well below thresholds for genetic and demographic issues. “(pg.119)  In other words, in order for the Bay Area’s reduced populations of mountain lions to remain healthy, they must be able to connect with larger populations to prevent inbreeding and increase genetic variability.

Mountain lion killed on Highway 13, June 27, 2011. Photo by Jim Hale

While no one knows  yet how large a population exists in the East Bay Hills, there is no uncertainty about the need to keep corridors open and protected.  The CLN concludes,  “The potential for small population sizes makes it imperative that any mountain lion subpopulation is connected to others by dispersal.”(pg. 119)  In other words, developing, fencing, and blocking off these key habitat areas poses unacceptable risks to the survival of mountain lions and other wildlife species in the Bay Area.  When safe corridors are reduced or closed, mountain lions are often forced into crossing highways at their own peril.  The accompanying photo shows a young male lion hit and killed on Highway 13 a few miles from Knowland Park last summer.

Increasingly, public agencies are recognizing their role in helping keep corridors open.  A few years ago the Board of Directors of the East Bay Regional Park District  voted to re-locate a large group campground planned for Sibley Regional Preserve when the public pointed out that the campground would affect critical access for animals using  the Caldecott Wildlife Corridor  which links the middle and northern sections of the East Bay hills.

We believe the City of Oakland and the Oakland Zoo should  walk the conservation talk and face their responsibility to protect Knowland Park. The large perimeter fence that would surround the zoo’s proposed ridgeline development expansion area cuts through critical areas of the chaparral and oak woodlands which provide cover and safe  passage for mountain lions and other wildlife species.  Better expansion alternatives exist.

Dividing Knowland Park for whatever reason is contrary to the vision and goals of conservationists working today. Now more than ever conservationists, especially those working in urban areas, must examine how the part fits within the whole and fight to preserve what is left of our natural heritage.

1.  McBride, Joe. Plant Succession in the East Bay Hills.  Ph.D. Dissertation.  University of California at Berkeley.  1969.

2. Prugh.et al. BioScience, Vol. 59. No. 9  October 2009, pp. 779-791.

3. Martin, Glen.  Small-Time Predators, Big-Time Impacts.  Bay Nature July-September 2011.

4. Bay Area Open Space Council. 2011. The Conservation Lands Network (www.BayAreaLands.org): San Francisco Bay Area Upland Habitat Goals Project Report.  Berkeley, CA. 2011.


Laura Baker is an environmental activist and former conservation chair of the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. She holds an MA in ecology and systematic biology. Growing up in Missouri, she learned early that the cure for most ills rests in spending time out in nature. She wishes for every child to have the experience of wholeness that nature provides.

Laura’s Knowlander blog is dedicated to building an online library of the natural history of Knowland Park so that the public may enjoy the park for the natural heritage treasure that it is.  Knowing the land is a never ending process of inquiry  open to all. We welcome your comments, contributions, and photos.

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  • David W

    A quick bit of research-is this correct?
    Las Trampas, Chabot, Redwood,
    Huckleberry, and Sibley regional parks habitat about 100 square miles

    100 square miles is 63,500 acres

    Knowland Park is 450 acres.

    proposed zoo expansion 50 acres

  • Laura

    Hi David, Thanks for your question.  According to the East Bay Regional Park District, the total acreage of the parks you mention is 11,671, not 63,500.  Knowland Park is approx. 500 acres, proposed expansion is 56 acres.  But not all acres are equal in habitat value.  The 56 acres of Knowland park are the highest quality habitat in the park, and the chaparral in particular provides wildlife, including mountain lions, with the three critical conditions of safe cover, ready access to water (Arroyo Viejo Creek), and plentiful prey.  Photos from strategic night cameras and data from radio collars are needed for population studies, and that kind of research is just beginning.  Regardless, what’s clear is that the expansion area would be collateral damage since the perimeter fence forces animals to move around it.  Why accept any level of damage when there are far better alternatives to avoid it?  Perhaps most importantly, the area of concern isn’t confined to the 56 acres of this project.  When we asked the East Bay Zoological Society if they’d be willing to guarantee to protect the rest of the park from future expansions, the answer was an unequivocal “no.”

  • Widelock

    Laura,
    Thanks for your reply. Adding up the indvidual parks’ acreage, you are correct, but i believe he contiguous habitat is much larger-see
    http://baynature.org/articles/apr-jun-2010/through-the-eyes-of-the-lion.
    I’ve excerpted the relevant paragraph:

    “After all, a UC Berkeley study around Mount Hamilton in the 1980s found that a hundred square miles of good Bay Area habitat can support five to eight pumas, though that number can vary a lot based on habitat quality and prey availability. The East Bay
    alone has four areas of almost this size or greater: one centered
    around Las Trampas, Chabot, Redwood, Huckleberry, and Sibley regional
    parks; another at Wildcat Canyon, Tilden, and Briones regional parks; a
    third at Mount Diablo State Park, Black Diamond Mines, and Morgan
    Territory; and the fourth spanning regional parks and wildernesses at
    Sunol, Ohlone, Del Valle, and Mission Peak.”

  • Laura

    David:  I’m not sure that I fully understand what your point is, but I do understand that it’s hard to grasp how much habitat mountain lions need to for populations to survive.  The Conservation Lands Network which I quoted is clear that the mountain lions living in the East Bay Hills  are at risk from inbreeding.  The numbers of mountain lions quoted in the Bay Nature article are not sufficient to keep viable populations ongoing over the long haul without connecting these sites with even larger habitat blocks such as Mount Hamilton–the purpose of the Critical Linkages project is to find ways to do that.  I encourage you  to check out the CLN (I included a link to it).  The Critical Linkages project is due to be released this spring.  Meanwhile, we will continue to advocate that high quality habitat be preserved and that further study of the East Bay mountain lion population be conducted–that’s in line with the opinion of wildlife experts. 

  • Widelock

    Laura,

    I’m sure you are not claiming that the west end of Knowland Park is a critical linkage? There’s nothing to the west of it but freeway and housing. I’m a resident very near the park, and I consider myself both a conservationist and a friend of the zoo. I’m trying to understand the arguments. I don’t look at a city park the same way I look at regional parkland-there are different interest and uses to balance. First I”m just trying to get some facts, which is why I looked at the acreage involved.

  • Laura

    David:  Thanks for the clarification.  If by the west end, you mean the portion that sits around and immediately behind the zoo, we don’t consider that a critical linkage area.  Much of that land is degraded and suitable for development, as the Zoo’s 1996 Master Plan described. However, the western knolls are rich habitat, and the oak woodlands and chaparral that slope to the north and down to Arroyo Viejo creek and the riparian corridor are indeed part of the linkage.  

  • Widelock

    Sorry, I don’t understand. There is a linkage to the east, into Chabot Park. There is no passage to the west of Knowland Park is there? Cougars don’t usually take Arroyo Viejo Creek under the freeway and towards AV park?

  • Lbake66

    Correct–no passage west under the freeway–and that’s too far west.  The creek corridor running roughly east to west in the northern part of the park (along Golf Links) allows transverse crossings (north/south) into the park.  The chaparral provides some of the best cover all the way up to the western knolls.  If you walk the fire roads up on the knolls, you’ll find some of the densest animal signs (scat, tracks) along the fire road that dead-ends into the proposed Interpretive Center.  Following the single track trail along to the east and north of there brings you into the chaparral.  You can follow that trail downhill through the chaparral towards the creek.  This is super high quality habitat for all kinds of wildlife, whether it’s mountain lions, foxes, coyotes, snakes, etc.  It’s also some of the best native plant habitat and a  rare plant community.

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