nature
A family gave up their 136-year-old farm for mountain lions
Five generations worked the land. They gave it to the cats.
A family in California sold their 136-year-old farm this year to make room for a wildlife crossing, giving up land that five generations had worked. The property sits along a route that mountain lions use to move between habitats, corridors that fragmenting development has been steadily cutting off. Conservationists have called the crossing a lifeline for the region's big cats, whose small, isolated populations face genetic decline when they cannot roam. Selling a farm held since the 1880s is not a casual decision. It is the kind of choice that involves a lot of paperwork and, presumably, a lot of quiet standing in fields. The family chose it anyway. The land will now be given back to the animals that were crossing it long before anyone planted a single crop.