Beth Pratt-Bergstrom

Beth Pratt-Bergstrom is an American conservation advocate, writer, and wildlife activist who has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between wild animals and the people who share their landscapes. She serves as the California Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation, one of the country’s largest conservation organizations, and has become one of the most recognizable voices for urban wildlife conservation in the American West.

Pratt-Bergstrom is the author of When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California (2016), a book that explores the challenges and possibilities of coexistence between humans and large predators in an increasingly urbanized state. Drawing on her years of work in California conservation, she tells the stories of mountain lions, bears, coyotes, and other wildlife navigating a landscape defined by highways, suburbs, and farmland. The book advocates for practical solutions and empathy as the keys to a sustainable relationship between people and wildlife.

Much of Pratt-Bergstrom’s public profile is connected to her passionate campaign to build a wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles — a project to allow mountain lions and other animals to safely cross one of the most heavily trafficked highways in North America. Her advocacy, which included creative public outreach campaigns and media engagement, helped bring this initiative to national attention and contributed to securing funding for what became one of the world’s largest wildlife crossing projects.

Through her writing, speaking, and advocacy work, Pratt-Bergstrom has argued consistently that conservation is not only a rural or wilderness concern but an urban and suburban imperative. Her career reflects a belief that saving wildlife requires engaging communities, changing infrastructure, and telling compelling stories about the animals that share our cities and neighborhoods.