CALIFORNIA'S PROPOSITION 117
THE CALIFORNIA WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACT OF 1990
On June 5, 1990 the voters of California approved Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act. The Act accomplished two things. It prohibited the sport hunting of the California Mountain Lion, and it required that California spend no less than $30 million a year on wildlife habitat protection.
Prop 117 became California Fish and Game Code Sections 4800-4809.
Since 1990, four changes have made to the law. In 1999, AB 560 amended Section 4801 to allow lions to be killed to protect endangered sheep. In 2011, SB 769 amended Section 4800 to allow deceased lions to be used for educational purposes.
Section 4810 was added in 2012 (via AB 1784) to authorize humane mountain lion research and transparency. Section 4801.5 was added by Senate Bill 132 in 2013, requiring nonlethal measures to be used to resolve public safety situations when a lion is not acting aggressively.
Visit the featured pages below to learn more about California's Proposition 117 and legislative efforts to protect mountain lions in the golden state.
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Original Text of Proposition 117
The original 1990 text of Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990 that prohibited the sport hunting of mountain lions in California, and required California to spend no less than $30 million a year on wildlife habitat acquisition and protection.
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A Citizen's Guide to the Implementation of Proposition 117
Learn more about how Proposition 117 actually works (in plain English), and how Californians can utilize the $30 million annually to protect local wildlife habitats.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions about the Wildlife Conservation Board, eligible projects, the application process, and funding limitations. Additional information about the Board members, their annual reports, and programs can also be found by following the links at the top of the FAQ webpage.
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The Habitat Conservation Fund
Created by Prop 117, the Habitat Conservation Fund is the account that provides $30 million a year to local entities to protect threatened species, to address wildlife corridors, to create trails, and to provide for nature interpretation programs which bring urban residents into park and wildlife areas.
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The Wildlife Conservation Board
The primary responsibilities of WCB are to select, authorize and allocate Habitat Conservation Fund money for the purchase of land and waters suitable for recreation and the preservation, protection and restoration of wildlife habitat.
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WCB Approved Projects Map
An interactive map on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's BIOS website which shows land protected through Wildlife Conservation Board-approved projects.
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Habitat Conservation Fund Report
This publication summarizes the first 15 years of the Habitat Conservation Fund's accomplishments. By 2005, the Fund had already protected more than one million acres of wildlife habitat. Listed in the report, by county, is a partial list of the special places protected thus far.
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Twenty Years of Wildlife Protection
On June 30th, 2010, California State Senator Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) presented Mountain Lion Foundation Board Chairman, Toby Cooper with a Senate resolution commemorating the Foundation's "significant contributions" to the passage and implementation of the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990 (Proposition 117).
