Does the addition and improvement of wildlife waters cause predators to expand their range?
A40 The available science does not support it. In the case of mountain lions, the Kofa history would seem to refute such speculation. As one example, during the 60+ year history of active water development on the Kofa, a resident, reproducing lion population did not become established until sometime within the past seven years. The scale of lion use of the habitat – their home ranges of as much as 500 square miles far exceed those of their prey species – seems clearly indicative of an animal for whom water availability is neither a significant limiting factor or attractant. For lions, the answer to the questions: Why here? Why now? . . . remain the subject of intense research and conjecture. The impact of wildlife waters on expanded raven (which, unlike lions, have long been a component of the native fauna of the refuge) predation on desert tortoises has also been brought up in the context of the Kofa. Speculation about the single Mohave Desert study of raven use of livestock watering
