National Park Service researchers recently re-captured the female mountain lion known as P-53 and treated her for mange, a parasitic disease of the hair and skin. Mange is generally rare in wild cats, however, it has been widespread in bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains area since an epizootic started in 2002 caused extensive mortality and a significant population decline.

The rain has been doing its magic in Southern California. Green has returned to the fire-blackened Santa Monica Mountains, fresh growth emerging from the ash of the biggest fire ever to sweep the 154,000-acre park that’s hemmed by the Pacific’s white beaches and the sprawl of greater Los Angeles. Tiny seedlings dot many slopes, looking in the distance like a green peach fuzz, and brilliant lime grasses, invasive as well as native, stretch beneath craggy mountains that still wear the charcoal face left by November’s ferocious Woolsey Fire.

There aren't a lot of upsides to wildfires, not for human society, but they do serve landscapes well by converting downed trees and other vegetation into soil nutrients. If the weather cooperates, in terms of rainfall, they can lead to spectacular floral displays, which is something that could be coming soon to Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California.

A male mountain lion has turned up dead at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California, a possible victim of the Woolsey Fire that burned through the NRA last month.