Beth Pratt-Bergrstrom On “People And Wildlife Working It Out”

MARIPOSA — The National Wildlife Federation’s California Director, Beth Pratt-Bergstrom, will be signing copies of her new book, “When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working it Out in California,” on Thursday, May 19 at a special reception at Savoury’s Restaurant in Mariposa from 5-7 p.m.

Pratt-Bergstrom, a long-time Midpines resident, has worked in environmental leadership roles for over twenty-five years, and in two of the country’s largest national parks: Yosemite and Yellowstone.

“I have the best job in the world,” she says, “I get to travel around California and spend time with condors, mountain lions, porpoises, pika, and foxes, and work with some amazing people who help wildlife thrive.”

 

Pratt-Bergstrom spent three years working on When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors, published by Heyday Books in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, and calls it her “ode to California wildlife.”

The book includes a collection of inspiring wildlife stories from across the Golden State.

Included are stories about the ways in which Los Angeles has learned to coexist with a mountain lion living in the middle of the city, how Californians are welcoming wolves back to the state after ninety years, and how on the Facebook campus in Silicon Valley, Mark Zuckerberg and his staff have provided a home for an endearing family of wild gray foxes.

Pratt-Bergstrom, who worked in Yosemite for almost a decade, also includes a chapter on the park’s wild creatures, highlighting how park staff and millions of visitors rallied to keep Yosemite’s famed bears wild.

Before joining NWF in 2011, she worked on sustainability and climate change programs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts in Yellowstone as its Director of Environmental Affairs.

Prior to her role in Yellowstone, for nine years Pratt-Bergstrom served as the Vice President/CFO for the non-profit Yosemite Association (now Yosemite Conservancy) in Yosemite National Park.

Her conservation work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, BBC World Service, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and NPR.

She has written for CNN.com, Boom: A Journal of California, Yellowstone Discovery, Yosemite Journal, and Inspiring Generations: 150 Years, 150 Stories in Yosemite. She is also the author of the novel The Idea of Forever and the official Junior Ranger Handbook for Yosemite.

Those wanting to attend can stop by anytime during the reception and enjoy complimentary appetizers.

Copies of the book will be available to purchase as part of an advance sale –the nationwide release date for the book is not until August 1. All proceeds from the sale of this book directly benefit the NWF’s wildlife conservation work in California.

For more information, please visit the Facebook page for the event or you can reach her by email: prattb@nwf.org

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