Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing

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Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing concept by RCDSMM.png
RCDSMM's conceptual image of the wildlife crossing
Coordinates 34°08′17″N118°43′44″W / 34.138°N 118.729°W / 34.138; -118.729
CarriesWildlife
CrossesUS 101 (1961 cutout).svg US 101 (Ventura Freeway)
Locale Agoura Hills, California
Other name(s)Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing
Characteristics
Total length200 feet (61 m)
Width165 feet (50 m)
Location
Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (sometimes Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing) is a vegetated overpass spanning the Ventura Freeway and Agoura Road under construction at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, California. The bridge will be one of the largest urban wildlife crossings in the United States, connecting the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains over a busy freeway with ten traffic lanes, when including exit lanes.

Contents

Background

The bridge aims to allow animals to circulate through and thrive in areas that are fragmented and most affected by humans. [1] The crossing is particularly critical for the mountain lions of the Santa Monica Mountains, which have declined and become genetically isolated [2] because the Ventura Freeway prevents them from moving between the Simi Hills to the north and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south. [3] [4]

Since 2002, the National Park Service has recorded a dozen mountain lions struck and killed by motorists on the section of freeway paralleling the Santa Monica Mountains. [5] Freeway traffic is one of the primary threats to their survival in Southern California. [6] In 2013, a mountain lion, traveling from the north and on the verge of bringing new genetic material, died trying to cross at this location. [7] Most mountain lions approach this particular area and turn back without attempting the hazardous crossing of the freeway as shown by GPS tracking collars fitted to them by the researchers. [8]

In 2020, wildlife biologists found the first evidence of physical abnormalities in the isolated population. [9] Newcomers would bring new genetic material into the mountains where the lack of genetic diversity is a serious threat to their long-term survival. [10] It would allow young mountain lions born in the Santa Monica Mountains the chance to find new territory before possibly being killed by one of the dominant older males. [11]

This will be the first bridge on the California highway system designed specifically for fostering wildlife connectivity. [12] Other wildlife such as bobcats, coyote, deer, and fence lizards will also be able to take advantage of the bridge. [13] The Ventura Freeway is a heavily travelled commuter route serving the Greater Los Angeles area and connecting Los Angeles and Ventura Counties with about 300,000 cars a day. [14] The site is about 35 miles (56 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. [15] Scientists identified Liberty Canyon as the best location for a wildlife crossing because it was one of the few areas with the lands on both sides of the freeway that are publicly owned and protected. [5] [16] The crossing is situated along a wildlife corridor within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area that consists of thousands of acres of local, state and federal protected lands and stretches northerly from Los Angeles into Ventura County. [17] The county of Ventura has adopted a wildlife corridor protection ordinance that restricts activities that will impede the movement of mountains lions and other wildlife between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Los Padres National Forest. [18]

Design

In 2015, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains published a design for a 165-foot-wide (50 m) and 200-foot-long (61 m) overpass for the wildlife crossing. [5] [19] To encourage use by wildlife, the bridge will have lush but drought-tolerant vegetation with matte materials to deflect bright headlights and insulation to quiet the roar of cars. [20] Fencing at each end will help funnel them onto the crossing. [17] A second phase of the project will cross a frontage road that is parallel with the freeway. [21] Landscaping of the nearly 1-acre bridge (0.40 ha) includes 12 acres (4.9 ha) of habitat restoration in the area. [22] The restoration is partially needed because the 2018 Woolsey Fire burned through the wildlife corridor as it was pushed by strong Santa Ana winds in a southerly direction and crossed the freeway in this area. [23] [24]

The draft environmental document was released in 2017. [25] A tunnel was considered as an alternative but it would be less able to attract usage by wildlife and wouldn’t sustain vegetation. [26] The California Department of Transportation, Caltrans, will oversee design and construction as it crosses a major transportation route. [27]

Funding campaign

In 2014, the National Wildlife Federation and the Santa Monica Mountains Fund joined forces with the #SaveLACougars campaign to raise money for the project. [28] P-22 was the inspiration for the funding drive and became the poster puma for the promotion. [29] P-22 was a mountain lion that survived crossing two freeways, the 101 and the 405, to reach Griffith Park at the easterly end of the Santa Monica Mountains and became a celebrity. [30] [31] In 2014, the California Wildlife Conservation Board gave a $650,000 grant to the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains for the design of the crossing. [32] In 2015, the California Coastal Commission gave a $1 million grant to Caltrans for environmental assessment. [2] Private donors were encouraged to contribute. [33] The project stalled for years due to lack of funding. [2] In May 2021, the Annenberg Foundation offered a $25M challenge grant for the project, with $35M needed to unlock the grant. [34] [35] [36] As of mid-April 2022, donations totaled more than $87 million with more than 5,000 individuals, foundations, agencies and businesses contributing expertise and donations. [37] The project costs around $90 million, with funding from private donations covering about 60% and the rest coming from public funds set aside for conservation purposes. [38]

Construction

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Earth Day in April 2022 with Governor Gavin Newsom, Wallis Annenberg, wildlife biologists and members of the public along with local, state and federal legislators. [39] [40] Caltrans set the beginning of construction for spring 2022 with construction to be completed within two years. [41] [42] [43] Initial work included relocation of public utilities. [44]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 101</span> U.S. Numbered Highway on the West Coast

U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It travels for over 1,500 miles (2,400 km), primarily along the Pacific Ocean, and is also known by various names, including El Camino Real in parts of California, the Oregon Coast Highway, and the Olympic Highway in Washington. Despite its three-digit number, normally used for spur routes, US 101 is classified as a major route in the United States Numbered Highway System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 1</span> State highway in California, United States

State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. At 656 miles (1,056 km), it is the longest state route in California, and the second-longest in the US after Montana Highway 200. SR 1 has several portions designated as either Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Cabrillo Highway, Shoreline Highway, or Coast Highway. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 5 (I-5) near Dana Point in Orange County and its northern terminus is at U.S. Route 101 (US 101) near Leggett in Mendocino County. SR 1 also at times runs concurrently with US 101, most notably through a 54-mile (87 km) stretch in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agoura Hills, California</span> Incorporated city in the state of California, United States

Agoura Hills is a city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Its population was 20,330 at the 2010 census, which decreased to 20,299 in 2020. It is in the eastern Conejo Valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. The city is in western Los Angeles County and is bordered to the north by Bell Canyon and Ventura County. It is 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Downtown Los Angeles and less than 10 miles (16 km) west of the Los Angeles city limits at Woodland Hills. Agoura Hills and unincorporated Agoura sit next to Calabasas, Oak Park, and Westlake Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mulholland Drive</span> Street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California

Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is named Mulholland Highway. The road is featured in a significant number of films, songs, and novels. David Lynch, who wrote and directed a film named after Mulholland Drive, has said that one can feel "the history of Hollywood" on it. Jack Nicholson has lived on Mulholland Drive for many years, and still did so as of 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Monica Mountains</span> Mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in California, United States

The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area encompasses this mountain range. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 405 (California)</span> Interstate Highway in California

Interstate 405 is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in Southern California. The entire route is known as the northern segment of the San Diego Freeway. I-405 is a bypass auxiliary route of I-5, running along the southern and western parts of the Greater Los Angeles urban area from Irvine in the south to Sylmar in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ventura Freeway</span> Freeway in Southern California

The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California, United States, that runs from the Santa Barbara/Ventura county line to Pasadena in Los Angeles County. It is the principal east–west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. From the Santa Barbara County line to its intersection with the Hollywood Freeway in the southeastern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, it is signed as U.S. Route 101 (US 101), which was built in the late 1950s and opened on April 5, 1960. The segments from the Santa Barbara County line to Sea Cliff, and from Solimar Beach to Oxnard, are also concurrent with State Route 1 (SR 1), although no signs mention SR 1 there. East of the Hollywood Freeway intersection, the Ventura Freeway is signed as State Route 134 (SR 134), which was built by 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 2</span> State highway in California, United States

State Route 2 (SR 2) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It connects the Los Angeles Basin with the San Gabriel Mountains and the Victor Valley in the Mojave Desert. The highway's southwestern end is at the intersection of Centinela Avenue at the Santa Monica-Los Angeles border and its northeastern end is at SR 138 east of Wrightwood. The SR 2 is divided into four segments, and it briefly runs concurrently with U.S. Route 101 (US 101) and Interstate 210 (I-210). The southwestern section of SR 2 runs along a segment of the east–west Santa Monica Boulevard, an old routing of US 66, to US 101 in East Hollywood; the second section runs along segments of both the north–south Alvarado Street and Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park; the third section to I-210 in Glendale is known as the north–south Glendale Freeway; and the northeastern portion from I-210 in La Cañada Flintridge to SR 138 is designated as the Angeles Crest Highway.

The State Scenic Highway System in the U.S. state of California is a list of highways, mainly state highways, that have been designated by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as scenic highways. They are marked by the state flower, a California poppy, inside either a rectangle for state-maintained highways or a pentagon for county highways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 23</span> Highway in California

State Route 23 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that connects the Pacific coast and the Santa Monica Mountains to the Conejo and Santa Clara River valleys. It runs from Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu in Los Angeles County to Ventura Street in Fillmore in Ventura County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern California freeways</span> Freeway system

The Southern California freeways are a vast network of interconnected freeways in the megaregion of Southern California, serving a population of 23 million people. The Master Plan of Metropolitan Los Angeles Freeways was adopted by the Regional Planning Commission in 1947 and construction began in the early 1950s. The plan hit opposition and funding limitations in the 1970s, and by 2004, only some 61% of the original planned network had been completed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simi Hills</span> Mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in California, United States

The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area</span> Protected area in Southern California, US

The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in the greater Los Angeles region, with two thirds of the parklands in northwest Los Angeles County, and the remaining third, including a Simi Hills extension, in southeastern Ventura County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 101 in California</span> U.S. Highway in California

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Agoura, Agoura Hills, California</span>

Old Agoura, also referred to simply as "Agoura" by some locals, is a district on the east side of the city of Agoura Hills, located in the Simi Hills of western Los Angeles County, California.

Cornell is an unincorporated community in the Santa Monica Mountains, within western Los Angeles County, California. It is located 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Agoura Hills and around 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north of Malibu. Cornell's heyday was the 1910s to the 1950s, and the settlement is now essentially a ghost town but a handful of buildings and one functioning restaurant persisted circa 2007.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sage Ranch Park</span> Public park and nature preserve in Ventura County, California

Sage Ranch Park is a 625-acre park (253 ha) and wildlife corridor located at a 2,000 feet (610 m) height in the northwestern Simi Hills on the northwestern plateau of the Simi Valley, bordering Los Angeles County and its San Fernando Valley. The campground area used to be a cattle ranch and later a filmset for Western movies. Sage Ranch Park is today an intermountain wildlife corridor, which links the Simi Hills with the Santa Susana- and Santa Monica Mountains. The mountainous park is mostly known for its unique sandstone rock formations, maybe particularly on its western side where the Sandstone Ridge and Turtle Rock are situated. On its northern side, there are great panoramic rural and metropolitan views of the Simi Valley, as well as surrounding Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains and beyond. It is home to numerous sandstone formations, caves, outcroppings, tilted rock formations, several hiking trails, a camping ground, as well as native flora and wildlife. The area is lined with coastal sage scrub and other flora includes chaparral, bush lupine, California poppy, sunflowers, Cream Cups, bracken, sword fern, prickly pear cactus, eucalyptus trees, oak woodland of ceanothus, coffee berry, California buckwheat, sycamore, Walnut Tree, ferns, orange- and avocado trees. It is a critical cross-mountain wildlife corridor and is home to fauna such as mountain lions, bobcats, eagles, vultures, owls, rattle snakes, coyotes, hawks, grey fox, king snakes, and more. Bordering Sage Ranch to the south is the Rocketdyne Santa Susana Field Laboratory, in which the nearby Burro Flats Painted Cave is located.

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The Woolsey Fire was a wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of the U.S. state of California. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018, and burned 96,949 acres of land. The fire destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. It was one of several fires in California that ignited on the same day, along with the nearby Hill Fire and the destructive Camp Fire in Northern California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P-22</span> Wild animal in Los Angeles (d. 2022)

P-22 was a wild mountain lion who resided in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California, on the eastern side of the Santa Monica Mountains. P-22 was first identified in 2012 and was the subject of significant media attention, including numerous books, television programs and other works of art. P-22 was often recorded prowling in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was monitored by a radio collar. P-22 remained in Griffith Park for ten years until he was captured on December 12, 2022. He was then euthanized on December 17, 2022, after examinations revealed he was suffering from traumatic injuries consistent with being hit by a car, in combination with several longer-term health issues.

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