Paul Beier gave the keynote this morning and talked about his work in southern California working on connectivity issues for wildlife (originally and mostly mountain lions / cougars / pumas / catamounts). He spoke, of course, about the importance of maintaining connectivity among wildlands — none of the mountain ranges in the Los Angeles area are big enough on their own to sustain mountain lion populations — and the utility of involving key stakeholders, etc. But the most important thing, to me, was his final slide. He showed a picture where four highways, a railroad, the California aqueduct, and high-voltage power lines all crossed, and then pointed out that above them all stood a key wildlife corridor. He indirectly suggested that in highly-disturbed environments we push for “greenness” to be considered an element of our infrastructure. This is the sort of mental jui-jitsu that can succeed in pulling in important governmental agencies in working towards and responsible for conservation. Convincing Caltrans (which Beier’s done!) to participate in conservation programs is a brilliant way of increasing the number of stakeholders.