Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing

Zoom video of California Department of Fish and Wildlife meeting about the decision to euthanize mountain lion P22. https://wildlife-ca-gov.zoom.us/rec/play/2PBf8B-Fm5FJco1OAWKnTnY8jB2MVYNjKuL2MY_xMDmptXdHn-9p2H00-SW498QqTClz9Ll5MYM8eTKp.5XSDcHJZJ980A-h2?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=PkNFfM4HQVCDJj_yTdMMpg.1671315875619.f6ea42088f259c24e67a31927a97428d&_x_zm_rhtaid=93&fbclid=IwAR0pP0S4P9lfq3fjto4UG7uhMg5xi655tJzp8XMub1YsGcCp3Ibvzh3c680

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Sad news. P22 has been euthanized. He was suffering from illness and injury caused by a car accident and poison induced mange. We must do better to safeguard our native wildlife. We look forward to the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing helping to save the lives of wildlife in the future. RIP, P22. https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDFW/posts/pfbid0HXw3tY1muXBuu2ktB3DL2CHdJrK8WjZCgtBauto2Ld2zGaQ61imMgRXoxJDmCqkal

CDFW News | Mountain Lion P-22 Compassionately Euthanized Following Complete Health Evaluation Results After receiving a comprehensive medical evaluation, CDFW has received a clear picture of the mountain lion P-22’s medical condition and overall health. He had several severe injuries and chronic health problems.

The Crossing can't be finished soon enough :-( https://www.facebook.com/santamonicamtns/posts/pfbid02mCbupyoHMpuEb5NzXGPHzfCQHHfz9FxZGvkcnuHCxuc5zmiqihUAyTLpmGKN89wbl

Farewell to a trailblazer. 💔

Early this morning, subadult male mountain lion P-90 was struck and killed by a vehicle on State Highway 33 in Oak View, just south of Ojai in Ventura County. After they were notified, he was picked up by biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).

Born in the central Santa Monica Mountains, he was one of 13 kittens born during the "Summer of Kittens" in 2020, which included five mountain lion mothers giving birth in our study area.

P-90 was first captured and marked at the den on July 6, 2020, when he was about three weeks of age. P-90's father is suspected to be P-63.

His sibling, male P-89, was killed by a vehicle on the 101 Freeway on July 18, 2022.

P-90 had successfully crossed the 101 Freeway in Camarillo this past June. He crossed flat agricultural fields and eventually traveled to the Lake Casitas area in Los Padres National Forest.

This was actually his third time successfully crossing the 101 Freeway.

Soon after dispersing from his mother, P65, he crossed the 101 at Liberty Canyon, heading north into the Simi Hills on December 11, 2021. The next night he crossed the 101 again, heading back into the Santa Monica Mountains.

P-90 was just over two years old. He is the 7th lion in our study area to die from road mortality this year alone and the 5th radio-collared one.

During the 20-year study, 32 mountain lions were killed by a vehicle in our study area, which includes the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains, Verdugo Mountains, and Griffith Park. Biologists are currently tracking 11 mountain lions in the region with GPS radio collars.

Samples were collected from P-90 after he was killed Friday morning. A necropsy will be conducted.

Photos: NPS / Jeff Sikich. Image: P-90 was treated for mange during his last capture in late 2021.

Sad news.

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing updated their information in their About section.

Photographs from one of the many organizations who were at the groundbreaking today. Thanks to everyone for coming to celebrate the wildlife crossing which will help save wildlife for many years to come! https://www.facebook.com/AnimalAdvocatesUSA/posts/363595605813639

Join us at the public celebration at the Dorm Lawn of King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵, 𝟮𝟲𝟴𝟬𝟬 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘄𝘆, 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗮𝘀, 𝗖𝗔 𝟵𝟭𝟯𝟬𝟮. Photo credit: NWF, National Wildlife Federation Obi Kaufmann.

Tomorrow, Earth Day, is the ground breaking of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Wildlife Crossing. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a public-private partnership of monumental scope that has leveraged the expertise and leadership of dozens of organizations and institutions. It serves as a project for the next century and will provide a lasting benefit to the wildlife and ecology of the area for generations to come. Spanning over ten lanes of the 101 freeway in the Los Angeles area, when complete the crossing will be the largest in the world, the first of its kind in California, and a global model for urban wildlife conservation.

Thanks to Santa Monica Mountains Fund and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area for the native plant nursery! L.A. Mountains https://www.facebook.com/lamountains/posts/360342912798800

Thanks to Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Caltrans HQ, The Annenberg Foundation, National Parks Services, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Wildlife Federation, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Fran Pavley and many others for their help with the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. https://www.facebook.com/santamonicamtns/posts/334842358744941

Video of Phase I of the Wildlife Crossing. Supported by Caltrans, County of Los Angeles, Las Virgenes Water District, Save the Bay Foundation, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and more organizations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGF6fob7DRE&t=3s

Wildlife 101 Crossing Underpass Restoration Check out Project Manager for the Liberty Crossing Underpass Project, Mark Abramson, and RCDSMM Executive Officer, Clark Stevens, discuss the exciting restor...

Phase I of the Wildlife Crossing was completed in 2019. Caltrans HQ restored a creek bed at the 101 and Liberty Canyon Rd. Project # 07-30710https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/risk-strategic-management/documents/mile-marker/mm-2019-q2-wildlife-crossing-a11y.pdf

The official groundbreaking of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will take place on ! The construction will begin on the largest wildlife crossing in the world. The crossing will support Southern California’s wild animals and ecosystems during this critical time.

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a public-private partnership of monumental scope that has leveraged the expertise and leadership of dozens of organizations and institutions to protect and restore wildlife habitats in Southern California.

In 2015, the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) and Caltrans proposed a massive corridor across the 101 freeway in Agoura Hills to provide wildlife with a safe place to cross into other habitats. At the time, the proposed plan was expected to take years to fund and even longer to build. Due to the bridge’s size and cost, its completion would be reliant on donations from the public.

In 2016, Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation took up the call for funds and made a $1 million challenge grant to spur the community and local leaders to donate. The grant provided the necessary test assessments by Caltrans to ensure that the bridge would not cause any environmental impact to the surrounding area.

Thanks to the Annenberg Foundation’s challenge grant, the project received donations from more than 3,000 private, philanthropic, and corporate institutions around the world and helped NWF raise enough money to begin construction – initially in the year 2025.

There’s a reason I wanted to support this crossing and issue this challenge: We need to move beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation. Wildlife crossings are powerfully effective at doing just that — restoring ecosystems that have been fractured and disrupted. It's a way of saying, there are solutions to our deepest ecological challenges, and this is the kind of fresh new thinking that will get us there.

In 2021, Wallis Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation accelerated donations with a record breaking $25 million challenge grant to the NWF. The ‘Conservation Challenge Grant’ – currently the largest of its kind – serves as a call to philanthropists to help protect a threatened global biodiversity hotspot in Los Angeles. The funds raised were not only enough to fund construction, but moved up the construction timeline to April 22, 2022 – three years earlier than planned.

When built, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world and will restore habitats and an ecosystem that over time has been degraded by human development. The bridge will allow for wildlife to cross freely over the 101 freeway without the threat of death or accidents, and will ensure the survival of many isolated species.

"Time is running out for these mountain lions, and the National Wildlife Federation is so grateful to the Annenberg Foundation for showing extraordinary leadership to help make this crossing a reality." NWF

California Regional Executive Director, National Wildlife Federation
Core partners include Caltrans, the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy/Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, and the National Wildlife Federation.

Living Habitats LLC, a frequent Caltrans collaborator, will coordinate with a broad team of wildlife crossing experts in the planning and design development of the wildlife crossing.

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing updated their business hours.

Groundbreaking for the Wildlife Crossing is Friday, April 22, 2022 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. RSVP only and already booked. Public event is 11:30 am to 2:30 pm at King Gillette Ranch, 26800 Mulholland Hwy, Calabasas, CA 91302.

The Wallis Annenberg Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing is a public-private partnership that has leveraged the expertise and leadership of dozens of organizations and institutions. The core partners include Caltrans, the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, and the National Wildlife Federation.

The purpose of the project is to provide a safe and sustainable passage for wildlife across US-101 near Liberty Canyon Road in the City of Agoura Hills that reduces wildlife death and allows for the movement of animals and the exchange of genetic material.

US-101, also known as the Hollywood/Ventura Freeway, is a heavily travelled commuter route serving the Greater Los Angeles area and connecting Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. It also acts as the primary access route to and from downtown Los Angeles, various residential communities, and tourist destinations in Los Angeles, as well as the central California coast.

Within the project limits, US-101 is a 8-lane freeway that runs east-west through the City of Agoura Hills separating the Santa Monica Mountains (to the south) from the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains (to the north).

The freeway is a formidable and virtually impenetrable barrier for many wildlife species including mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, coyotes, and mule deer that inhabit and travel between these two mountain ranges. In particular, mammals with large home ranges such as mountain lions and bobcats need large connected habitats in order to hunt, breed, and thrive.

The construction of US-101 divided this previously continuous habitat range into isolated habitat fragments and resulted in severely restricted movement between the two mountain ranges. For mountain lions in particular, the consequences of this restriction results in increased inbreeding and territorial fighting, and very low genetic diversity, within the Santa Monica Mountains.

The wildlife crossing is critical in the linkage between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Sierra Madre Range, which is one of the few coastal to inland connections remaining in Southern California. Both the South Coast Missing Linkages Project and the California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project identified the need to preserve and enhance this critical linkage in order to sustain ecological and evolutionary processes in California’s South Coast Ecoregion.

Additionally, the National Park Service has been collecting and publishing data on carnivore movement for over a decade, thereby validating the importance of a linkage for sustaining wildlife populations in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Analysis of genetics and tracking of ranges size conducted has indicated that providing wildlife connectivity through intervening natural areas in the Simi Hills, Santa Susana Mountains, and ultimately to the larger ecosystem of the Sierra Madre Range is imperative for preserving a viable mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains. The genetic diversity of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains was determined to be lower than anywhere else in the state of California, or anywhere else throughout the species range in the Western United States.

Moreover, connectivity is not just important for mountain lions, as National Park Service data has shown that bobcats and coyotes are also exhibiting significant genetic effects in the relatively short period since the freeway was built and research has shown that smaller species including lizards and birds are affected by the habitat fragmentation caused by roads and urban development.

Without a safe and sustainable wildlife crossing, movement between these remaining areas of natural habitat is severely restricted and wildlife within the Santa Monica Mountains is essentially trapped.

The Liberty Canyon area was identified by scientists and experts working in the field of wildlife movement as the optimal location for a safe and sustainable wildlife crossing across US-101. Prime habitat has already been protected on both sides of the freeway by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority that is contiguous with large swaths of protected habitat to the north and south of this connection.

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing updated their website address.