If you build it, they will come… or so a feasibility study proposes.
Almost one year to the day after a rally in support of building a wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon Road, a report prepared by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is the first of many steps to complete an almost $60-million animal overpass.
Funded by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority and Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Project Study Report proposes a crossing “that would consist of a 165-foot-wide by 200-foot-long bridge spanning across the freeway, with columns on spread footings in the freeway median and retaining walls on either end.”
The green structure will connect the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills, and thereby help to protect the genetic integrity of wildlife populations in both areas.
“We’re at a great milestone on this campaign,” California Director of the National Wildlife Federation Beth Pratt-Bergstrom said. “When I started working on it, it was something we knew we needed from a research perspective.”
Efforts to raise funds and build the bridge connecting wildlife to larger homing areas include partnerships between the City of Agoura Hills, California State Senator Fran Pavley, California State Assemblymember Richard Bloom, U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks.
“It’s critically important to provide a safe crossing over the busy 101 Freeway for wildlife,” said California State Senator Fran Pavley. “A secure pathway also is essential to protect motorists, who could be killed or injured by collisions with animals.”
Vegetation on and surrounding the bridge will blend with the natural native landscape, including drought-tolerant plants and noise barriers to reduce traffic and block hazardous lights for more effective wildlife crossings.
The estimated cost of this most critical phase is $30 million.
This was an area that the scientists from the National Park Service had identified that they were trying to cross and also was one of the last corridors that could even be connected with all the development in the area.
Mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountain Range have been limited to small areas, barricaded by human developments and sequestered into regions, negatively affecting genetic diversity. Scientists believe that by connecting larger land spaces, the lions may have a chance to breed and thrive outside of their own families.
Details of the crossing’s environmental impact will be reviewed through public hearings and community workshops provided by the City of Agoura Hills.
While multiple agencies support the wildlife crossing, Pratt-Bergstrom isn’t worried about the few who have a negative opinion toward building such a structure, “there are so many important things that need to be done in the world — this is one of them.
“We can make L.A. a leader in wildlife conservation. We can fix something for mountain lions and for all wildlife.”
