CANCELLED: Lions in Nebraska – The Golden Ghosts Return: A Conversation with Author Valerie Vierk

Event Cancelled:
Mountain Lions in Nebraska – The Golden Ghosts Return: A Conversation with Author Valerie Vierk

October 14, 2021 @ 1:00PM — 2:30PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) includes limited live Q&A afterwards.

Unfortunately, due to poor weather and technological issues, this event has been cancelled. We will send out details on rescheduling or alternate options soon.


Join us for a conversation with author Valerie Vierk as she discusses her book – “Mountain Lions in Nebraska – The Golden Ghosts Return” with the Mountain Lion Foundation’s own Jessica Janson.

About Valerie Vierk:
Valerie Vierk is an author who writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction. A writer since her earliest years, in 2005 she published her first book, Gold Stars and Purple Hearts—the War Dead of the Ravenna Area.

Valerie’s sixth book, Mountain Lions in Nebraska—The Golden Ghosts Return, covers a brief history of mountain lions during the colonial times of the United States. It then weaves a tale of the lion in Nebraska during the early 1900s, moving into the “modern era” and the first documented killing of a cougar in the northwestern part of the state. The book tells the history of the often contentious issue of the big golden cats returning to their former homes in the Midwest after an absence of over a hundred years. Mountain Lions In Nebraska also gives brief histories of Nebraska’s neighboring states that allow trophy hunting of mountain lions–South Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming. The book is richly illustrated with 90 photos, many taken by the author, plus political cartoons, maps, and charts.

Valerie’s fascination with mountain lions started in childhood. She believes it was prompted by her mother reading her and her brother Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. In this book, Pa Ingalls tells of a “black panther” chasing him and his horse through the woods. Garth Williams provided two sketches on the black panther and years later, upon looking at the book again, realized that was probably where her fascination for cougars began.

Additionally, Valerie is a life-long nature lover. She credits her late mother, Virginia, with introducing her to nature at a young age. Since 1974, Valerie has maintained a large bluebird trail to help the eastern bluebirds that are in need of housing since natural nesting sites are in short supply. In 2021, Valerie has a 140 box bluebird trail.

In 2012 she founded a non-profit titled “Holly Jean’s Hope Cat Spaying” to help the unowned cats of her little town of Ravenna, population 1,340. Years later this organization now feeds many cats each day in three locations.

Purchase Valerie’s book here:
Mountain Lions in Nebraska: The Golden Ghosts Return

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission approves 2022 hunt

For immediate release

Date :  June 11, 2021

Contact:  
Debra Chase, CEO, Mountain Lion Foundation

DChase@mountainlion.org
916-442-2666 ext. 103

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission approves 2022 hunt

Chadron, NE – On June 11, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission voted unanimously to approve a 2022 mountain lion hunt in the state’s Pine Ridge region. Nebraska’s mountain lion population in the region is far too small to sustain a hunt and permitting a hunt at all is overly aggressive, unsustainable, and jeopardizing their long-term viability.

As of 2019, the mountain lion population in the Pine Ridge was estimated at 34 individuals, including kittens. This number does not include the 11 lions killed in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. When you factor in lions removed by hunters, the population size dwindles to 23. If 2/3 of the population is of adult age, then the population proposed to be hunted is closer to 15 individuals. This estimate does not include lions that may have been killed by other sources of human-caused mortality.

“Allowing trophy hunters to target such a small population is poor management and is not supported by science,” stated Denise Peterson, Conservation Advocate for the Mountain Lion Foundation. She continued, “Mountain lions have only recently reclaimed this small portion of their former range. Permitting this hunt threatens their long-term survival in the state and is not supported by the majority of Nebraskans.”

We asked the Commission to stop the hunt to preserve the few mountain lions that remain in Nebraska. Despite our request, feedback from the public, and science that shows that hunting such a small population threatens its long-term viability, the hunt will move forward. However, our fight is not over. We will continue to our efforts in Nebraska until mountain lions are protected from poor management decisions such as this.

If you want to support our efforts or get involved in Nebraska, visit MountainLion.org.

Founded in 1986, the Mountain Lion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure that Americas lion survives and flourishes in the wild.

Nebraska Game & Parks Commission Seeking Public Comment on Proposed 2022 Mountain Lion Hunt

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is accepting public comment now through June 9, 2021 at 1:00 PM CT.

Nebraska’s mountain lions are in peril. In May 2021, Nebraska Game and Parks released their recommendations for yet another mountain lion hunt for the 2022 season. The recommendations are for a total of four mountain lions or a sublimit of two females in the Pine Ridge region. This is despite the fact that Nebraska has such a small population of lions, with the most recent population estimate being approximately 34 total cats (adults and kittens).

Given this population’s precarious foothold in the region, it cannot withstand any hunting whatsoever.

To submit comment:

All interested persons may attend and testify orally at the public hearing, but are strongly encouraged to submit written testimony prior to the public hearing in order to protect public health and assist in compliance with restrictions on public gatherings. Interested persons or organizations may submit written comments prior to the hearing, which will be entered into the hearing record if they: 1) include a request to be included as part of the hearing record; 2) include the name and address of the person or organization submitting the comments; and 3) are received by 1:00 p.m. CT, June 9, 2020 by Sheri Henderson at the Lincoln office, 2200 North 33rd Street, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.

Updates will be posted here and on our Nebraska Action page.