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Meet our Presenters
Beth Pratt
Beth Pratt has worked in environmental leadership roles for over 25 years, and in two of the country’s largest national parks: Yosemite and Yellowstone. As Regional Executive Director of the California Regional Center of the National Wildlife Federation, “I have the best job in the world” she says. “While advocating for the state’s remarkable animals, I get to travel around California and spend time with condors, mountain lions, porpoises, pika, and foxes, and work with some amazing people who help wildlife thrive.”
Before joining the Federation in 2011, she worked on sustainability and climate change programs for Xanterra Parks & Resorts in Yellowstone as its Director of Environmental Affairs. Prior to her role in Yellowstone, for nine years Beth served as the Vice President/CFO for the non-profit Yosemite Association (now Yosemite Conservancy) in Yosemite National Park. Beth graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Boston with bachelor's degrees in management and biological anthropology, and a minor in marketing. She also obtained an MBA from Regis University in Denver, and earned the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED AP credential.
Beth serves on the board of the non-profits Outdoor Afro and Save the Frogs!, and she has trained with Vice President Al Gore as a member of his Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps. Her conservation work has been featured by the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC World Service, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and NPR. She is the author of the novel The Idea of Forever and the official Junior Ranger Handbook for Yosemite, and her new book, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out In California, was published by Heyday Books in 2016. She has given a TEDx talk about coexisting with wildlife called, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the World,” and is featured in the new documentary, “The Cat that Changed America.”
Although Beth travels extensively throughout California for her work, she makes her home outside of Yosemite, “her north star,” with her husband, five dogs, two cats, and the mountain lions, bears, foxes, frogs, and other wildlife that frequent her NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat backyard.
Beth's book, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors, is available for purchase.
Korinna Domingo
Korinna is a wildlife biologist from Los Angeles, California, USA. Before founding the Cougar Conservancy, she worked on a variety of wildlife projects in the field that include species such as Roosevelt elk, black bears, cougars, North American porcupines, and river otters. She received her B.Sc. in Wildlife Management & Conservation from Humboldt State University.
Korinna has worked throughout the western U.S. to enhance human-cougar relationships through education, outreach, conflict management, and science-based policy.
In 2016, Korinna was part of the team that pushed for Assembly Bill 8, introduced by Assembly Member Richard Bloom, which would authorize, rather than require, the issuance of depredation permits. Out of this came the 2017 amendment to the depredation policy—also known as the “stepwise permit policy” or the “three-strike policy”—that added protections for cougars living in the Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains in Southern California.
Korinna was honored by California Senator Anthony Portantino in 2019 for her “dedication in educating the community about living with mountain lions.” During the same year, she co-led efforts to list Southern and Central Coast mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act. In 2020, these imperiled populations were granted temporary protected status.
Korinna founded the Cougar Conservancy in April of 2020 after the legal killing of mountain lion P-56 caused a major uproar in the conservation community. She works collaboratively with state and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and private partners to prevent, manage, and reduce human-cougar conflicts.
Jessica West
“Born and raised in Southern California, Jessica West graduated from Humboldt State University with a BS in Wildlife Biology (2015), Moorpark College with an AS focus in California Field Biology (2012), and the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at America's Teaching Zoo (2011). She possesses over 15 years of environmental-career related experience, including wildlife management and field studies, biological consulting, habitat restoration, outdoor education, and zookeeping. Jessica has been with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) since 2019, first as a field researcher collecting data for a black bear genetics project in the Angeles National Forest, and later as a human-dimensions researcher analyzing stakeholder values and perceptions of wildlife within California. As a Human-Wildlife Conflict Specialist, Jessica has worked hands-on with wild black bears, mountain lions, mule deer, and other native animals in the field. Jessica’s professional goal is to illustrate to others a compassion for wildlife and people through thoughtful, empathetic discussion and problem solving, while empowering communities with the knowledge and tools necessary to promote living responsibly with wildlife.”
Julie Tumamait
Julie Tumamait-Stenslie grew up in the Ojai Valley along the Ventura watershed, also known as the River Bottom. The youngest of seven children, her Chumash Ancestry is on her father's side, Vincent Tumamait. Her mother Lucy Castro-Tumamait descends from Mexico.
Growing up in her homeland Julie has made it her journey to learn about her Indigenous people and their relationships to the environment and to the wildlife with whom they share the land.. “It’s an endless journey,” she says, that will never be completely obtained in her life time, but she is always looking for the next lesson.
Julie has shared her knowledge with countless number of people from as she says, “the crisscross applesauce to the University level of education.”
She has been on numerous nonprofit boards and advisory committees, and has been awarded many honors, including the lifetime achievement award from the City of Ojai.