Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Denise Peterson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Denise , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Our mission is to improve social tolerance of mountain lions in Utah through education, collaboration, community, and research. We believe that Utahns need the opportunity to learn about and get to know more about their mountain lions in the state and that this can eventually lead to improved management of the wildcats. We also believe in building relationships between the different wildlife stakeholder groups and that, by working together and compromising on shared goals, we can help improve management and social tolerance of mountain lions in Utah.

Denise , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Denise Peterson and I am the Founder and Director of Utah Mountain Lion Conservation and we are partners in the Central Region Cougar Study being conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University and the Division of Wildlife Resources. I studied Natural Resources Management, Wildlife Biology, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at Grand Valley State in Allendale, Michigan and have worked on a wild felid study in the Peruvian Amazon tracking radio-collared ocelots and other wild cats in the area. My work experience includes the Mountain Lion Foundation, Yellowstone to Uintas Connection, and Voices of Wildlife. I’m currently on the Board of Directors of Utah Wildlife Federation. I’m passionate about mountain lions and their continued existence wherever they are found. I spend as much time in the mountains checking trail cams and tracking mountain lions as possible. To date, I’ve seen 12 mountain lions in the wild without the use of hounds.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I knew that I wanted to work in mountain lion conservation and believed at my core that collaboration and education were crucial for improving social tolerance and understanding of our mountain lions in Utah. That is why we founded UMLC in 2017. Since that day, we’ve grown significantly and are officially a fiscally-sponsored project of Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs. HB 469, which was signed into law this spring, was a major setback for mountain lion management in Utah. It opened our lions up to year-round hunting and now trapping. This was not based in science and the language to open them to year-round hunting and trapping with just a general license was added at the last minute to the bill, without the opportunity for public comment. Despite significant public outcry, Gov. Cox still signed the bill into law. We will be increasing our education and outreach efforts in the coming years to try to help Utahns better understand mountain lions and the ways that we can coexist with them. We’re hoping that our collaborative work with other wildlife stakeholder groups can eventually help undo the damage that will be done by this new law.

How did you build your audience on social media?

We built and are still in the process of building our social media audience through posting content the shows and helps people learn about our mountain lions in Utah. I would recommend engaging with your visitors regularly and coming up with a social media schedule to be consistent.     

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.utahmountainlion.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utahmtnlionconservation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UtahMountainLionConservation
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/utahmtnlion
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5tx_cknnCqUGOPKUTvhhw