Annual Open House event held at King Gillette Ranch to thank their partners and community members
By Benjamin Hanson
Special to The Malibu Times
Members of the Malibu, Calabasas and Agoura Hills communities attended a Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing open house at King Gillette Ranch on Sunday, Oct. 13.
Residents received updates, had their questions and concerns answered, and enjoyed complimentary food.
Construction of the wildlife crossing — the largest of its kind — began in mid-2022 and is expected to be finished by late 2025 or early 2026.
Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Foundation Beth Pratt said this informational event is heldannually.
“We have this big project going on in this community,” Pratt said. “We want people to meet all of the major partners and be able to ask questions about what does the construction mean, what does the National Park Service research show, and things like that. But it’s also a ‘thank you’ event because this is the community that made it happen.”
Agoura Hills Mayor Illece Buckley Weber and Mayor Pro Tem Penny Sylvester issued a proclamation, declaring this week “Urban Wildlife Week.”
“The city is so proud to be the home of the world’s largest wildlife crossing,” Buckley Weber said. “We’ve enjoyed every step of the way and it’s been a pleasure working with the other partners.”
The Santa Monica Mountains Fund (SMMF), an official partner of the National Park Service, was on hand to teach guests about wildlife, safely trapping rats, and how wildlife cameras work.
SMMF Executive Director Deanna Armbruster said that the SMMF plays two major roles in the wildlife crossing.
“We helped to support and fund the research for the wildlife crossing to provide the case that the animals needed a place to cross, and we’ll continue to fund that research well into the future,” she said. “Additionally, we staff and grow the plants at a nursery that is specifically dedicated to the wildlife crossing.”
Armbruster said that the plants will be placed on top of the wildlife crossing and will provide the habitat to attract the animals and encourage them to reuse the crossing.
Author Sherry Mangel-Ferber attended the event in her P-22 costume. Mangel-Ferber has co-authored two children’sbooks about the Hollywood Cat.
Mangel-Ferber said she was one of Pratt’s first volunteers when the project began over a decade ago.
“I’m a former classroom teacher and my students were all involved in a research project about the Wildlife Crossing and all the native wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains,” Mangel-Ferber said. “They were at the first rally at the Wildlife Crossing site and a year later they were able to come back to that site as well. And now they’re all in college.”
Pratt thanked the community and the partners for coming to the open house and for helping the crossing come to life.
“This really was a public movement where we all came together and said ‘we want wildlife to have a future here,’” Pratt said.
