There’s lots of conversations going on behind closed doors between local, state and regional officials about what it takes to prevent mountain lions from going extinct in OC.
These conversations include reactions to mountain lion deaths, meeting arrangements and dates and coordination on wildlife culverts, jut outs and fencing concerns.
[Read: From Backcountry to Museums: OC Mountain Lions at the Brink of Extinction]
But county officials seemingly don’t want the public to be involved.
On July 21, Voice of OC requested to inspect “any and all communication between OC Public Works and Caltrans regarding wildlife fencing, wildlife safety, wildlife crossings or any other wildlife mitigation related efforts in regards to mountain lions in the last year” under Califrornia’s Public Records Act.
After seeking an extension, OC Public Works took three weeks to formally respond that the dialogue with state officials about mountain lions did not exist.
But they did.
Another records request to the Orange County Transportation Authority – worded exactly the same as the one submitted to OC Public Works – inadvertently revealed direct communication between county public works employees and a Caltrans biologist, raising questions about the agency’s compliance with the California Public Records Act.
Unlike the county’s public works agency, Orange County’s Transportation Authority immediately complied with Voice of OC’s public records request – delivering detailed conversations among officials about mountain lions.
Conversations that included…OC Public Works.
OCTA records showed consistent email conversations between a OC Public Works regulatory permitting manager and a Caltrans District 12 biologist discussing meeting dates and wildlife mitigation strategies.
There were 13 different emails sent between the OC Public Works official and the biologist dating back as early as December 2025 and as recently as February 2026 about things like wildlife fencing, protective measures and a mountain lion death.
In many cases, the email subject head listed on the message made the conversation seemingly clear, including examples like:
Los Patrones Parkway Extension – Wildlife Movement Study Catchup
Re: Case 233538 – Request for Wildlife Crossing Signage and Protective Measures on Live Oak Canyon Road, and
Re: Mountain lion killed on Santiago Canyon Road 1/19/26
In response to questions about their refusal to provide clearly identifiable public records, OC Public Works responded quickly, apologized for the oversight and re-opened the request just a day after being asked for comment.
The agency ultimately provided 108 pages of responsive records – with conversations largely focusing on how county efforts to save mountain lions are faring.
Complying With Public Records Requests
It’s not the first time the department has faced questions regarding their compliance with the state public records law.
An activist group known as the Creek Team – who focus on protecting Orange County waterways from herbicide use – have also reported troubles with the agency regarding records requests.
Creek Team Founder Brent Linas said the agency has been incredibly difficult to work with, they often release public records past the legal time frame allotted under the Public Records Act and many of the records provided are not responsive to their request.
“It’s like if you go to a steakhouse and you order a nice big rib-eye,” Linas said, “And you sit and you wait and the waiter brings you a ham sandwich.”
Robert Beard, a scientist with the Creek Team, echoed Linas’ comments.
“They will just search up anything and send you thousands of pages that are unrelated,” said Beard, adding, “They keep giving me something not useful and then delaying another month.”
Linas said he believes OC Public Works does this systematically and on purpose.
“They want to make it so painful for you to get these records that you’re not going to even bother,” he said. “The consequences through the law for not complying are not nearly damaging enough.”
OC Public Works Spokeswoman Jamie Cargo said it takes time to put together public records, review them and determine if they can be disclosed or if they need to be redacted before releasing them.
“When there is a large volume of records or an ongoing review, OC Public Works generally makes responsive, non-exempt records available on a rolling basis until all records not subject to an exemption have been produced,” Cargo said.
For example, on the Voice of OC records request, OC Public Works officials stated that they will continue to look for responsive records, adding the next installment could be released on or around Sept 18.
“OC Public Works takes its obligations under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) seriously and is committed to providing responsive, non-exempt public records as promptly as reasonably possible,” added Cargo.
There aren’t any penalties for a public agency violating the Public Records Act, under current law.
Experts say the main legal process to check a rogue public agency is litigation, which can be expensive and difficult for an average citizen seeking records.
California’s First Amendment Coalition Legal Director David Loy said it can be helpful to negotiate with the agency themselves and try to get your records that way.
“While the ultimate recourse to enforce a CPRA request is to file a lawsuit, sometimes it can be productive to advocate or negotiate informally with an agency to see if that will solve the problem,” said Loy.
Yet there’s also times when activists say agencies are just resistant to release records revealing shortcomings or worse.
And in those cases, they say, negotiating only goes so far.
Creek Team activists confirmed they are exploring a lawsuit against OC Public Works over the agency’s failure to respond to public records requests.
“They have made clear that they will not willingly be transparent as the law requires,” said Linas. “We will drag them before a judge if they fail to produce the documents we know they possess.”
