Conservation Dinner Series: Beth Pratt of National Wildlife Federation joins us in the elephant room after dinner to give a talk about the Mountain Lions. The conservation dinner series is complimentary to all dinner guests.

If you want to attend this presentation, please call our reservations team at (707) 566-3667 or (800) 616-2695 and they can book it for you. Dinner starts at 7:00 PM.

Being Good Neighbors for Wildlife: Did you know that a family of foxes thrives on the Facebook campus in Silicon Valley? Or that a mountain lion lives in the middle of Los Angeles? Beth Pratt-Bergstrom, California Director for the National Wildlife Federation and author of the book, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors: Wildlife in Today’s California, will tell some remarkable stories of how—sometimes in the most unlikely of places—people are being good neighbors for wildlife in the Golden State, and why coexistence with wild animals is vital for their survival.

Biography

A lifelong advocate for wildlife, Beth Pratt has worked in environmental leadership roles for over thirty years, and in two of the country’s largest national parks: Yosemite  and Yellowstone. As the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife  Federation, Pratt leads the #SaveLACougars campaign to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which broke ground on Earth Day in 2022.  The largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world, it will help save a population of mountain lions from extinction. Her innovative conservation work has been featured by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC World  Service, CNN,  CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, The  Guardian, NPR, AP News, and more.

Her books include When Mountain Lions are Neighbors, published by Heyday in 2024, and I Heart Wildlife: A Guided Activity Journal for Connecting With the Wild World, by Di Angelo Publications in 2020. Her new book, Yosemite Wildlife: The Wonder of Animal Life in California’s Sierra Nevada, will be published by the Yosemite Conservancy in 2025. Beth has also given a TEDx talk about coexisting  with wildlife called, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the  World,” is featured in the documentary, “The Cat that Changed  America,” on CNN’s Heroes in Conservation series, and the new reboot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

Beth obtained a BS/BA from the University of Massachusetts, an MBA from Regis University, earned the LEED AP credential, and trained with Vice President Al Gore as part of his Climate Reality Leadership Corps. In 2007, she traveled to Japan as part of a month-long Rotary International Professional Exchange to study business and national park operations. Beth also served as a founding board member and the board chair for the nonprofit Outdoor Afro for eight years. The Western Section of the Wildlife Society named her “Conservationist of the Year” in 2023, and in 2024, she received the Alan Rabinowitz Conservation award from the Explorers Club.

Beth spends much of her time in Los Angeles, but makes her home outside of  Yosemite, “my north star,” with her six dogs, two cats, and the mountain lions, bears,  foxes, frogs, and other wildlife that frequent her backyard. More information at www.bethpratt.com or www.101wildlifecrossing.org