Guest Lecturer Christopher Spatz - Bringing Back the Legend: Cougar Recovery in Eastern North America
January 10, 2010 – The WCC was so happy to present Christopher Spatz, president of the Eastern Cougar Foundation (ECF), for a special talk about Cougar Recovery in Eastern North America. The search for the eastern cougar is one of the great riddles in North American natural history. Despite thousands of sightings from Maine to Mississippi, only a dozen confirmations have emerged east of Chicago during the past generation. Spatz spoke about the behavior, biology and current range of this elusive cat and he explained why sightings don't produce evidence. Cougars, like wolves, are a critical keystone species in a healthy ecosystem. The reintroduction of wolves to the wild has helped restore natural processes. By regulating prey populations, wolves enable many other species of plants and animals to flourish. Without predators like wolves and cougars, the eastern forests fail to support a natural level of biodiversity. Only though the restoration of these predators will we be able to recover the essential diversity in the declining eastern forests.
Spatz had a unique way of integrating his passion for the written word to evoke inspiration from his audience. He concluded his talk with a moving essay: THE GIFT OF FEAR: SEEDS OF AWE.
To read his essay, please click here
