A mother mountain lion and her kitten carefully traverse a cliffside near the border of Yellowstone National Park. This fine, invisible line represents something much greater than the boundary of two management agencies: Yellowstone Park, and the State of Montana. One’s ethos has been celebrated as America’s Best Idea, the other’s has become blatantly anti-predator, and these cougars are squarely in the crosshairs.
For this mother, the protection of the park ensures space, prey, and privacy to raise her young. Outside of the park she can be trapped, chased, and treed, separated from her kitten, and shot. The morning these cats triggered my camera trap, the protections of the park lie on the other side of the icy river below. Migrating food, deep winter snows, and the need to provide for her family have brought her here, hidden in deep shadows. Together they walk the fine, invisible line, high upon a cliff in the State of Montana.