Remembering P-22
On Saturday, 12/17/2022, Transition Habitat Conservancy celebrated the Winter Solstice by doing Joshua tree restoration, and planting seeds as well as tree sprouts. We were celebrating life, and the hope that keeps us going even in dark times.
Two volunteers plant trees near Transition Habitat Conservancy’s new shelter at our Portal Ridge Wildlife Preserve. Several “supervisors” enjoy the scenery and their lunches in the background.
Johanna Turner was in attendance. She and our extraordinary Board Member Dan Potter connect us intimately to the world of our preserve by using remote-sensing cameras, which show us the world behind the scenes. The simultaneously soft, and fierce lives of the multitude of wildlife that lives among us. The photos of American badgers, Mule deer, and Mountain lion mothers tenderly caring for their young, capture our imaginations and our hearts and inspire us to do the work that we do.
Johanna and I got to talking on Saturday morning about P-22's passing and the legacy he left behind, and that same legacy that also propels us into the future. I'd like to share with you my first memory of him.
Image shows a mother lion and cub drinking from a small spring while another cub stands nearby, peering directly into the camera lens. Photo by Dan Potter.
I was attending Chaffey College at the time, in 2016. I had just started on my journey to become a Biologist after many years of figuring out what I wanted to do in life. During my Evolutionary Ecology class I was introduced to the joys (and strain) of field work, and my professor had the foresight to assign me to a camera trapping project of the Etiwanda Preserve in Rancho Cucamonga. I fell in love with camera trapping, and the idea that I could connect with the living creatures that lived in these wild, and not-so-wild, places. Seeing my excitement with the project, my professor recommended that I look into a little someone known as P-22, and all of the fantastic work that was being done to track his impressive and miraculous living situation in Griffith Park. I was mesmerized by the idea of photographing such an amazing individual, and somehow ultimately contributing to his species' conservation.
A particularly charismatic mother lion investigates the camera while two of her cubs drink from the nearby spring. It appears that she is attempting a selfie, with one paw out of frame, as if holding the camera. Photo by Dan Potter.
Fast forward 6 years and here I am today working as a biologist in the field of conservation, and helping to preserve spaces for mountain lions, awareness and respect for their presence and need for wildlife crossings, and working with phenomenal camera trappers like Johanna Turner and Dan Potter, whose line of work inspired me those few years ago.
Dan Potter took a group for a hike to some of his camera trapping locations in Portal Ridge. Here, he shows a den site with “scraping” on the ground as well as some paw prints and scat in the area.
I am so thankful for the continued work that is being done here and by many others to progress conservation, and the absolute outpouring of love that I am seeing other people have for the creatures we share this planet with.
Sarah Berryman
Natural Resources Biologist
Transition Habitat Conservancy
Photos provided by Dan Potter and Sam Easley
