Reconnecting Nature
“It is the most hopeful project,” Pratt said. ”It is not just an L.A. story or a California story, it’s a story that the world is really behind.” Phase 1, the structural construction of the 174-foot-wide crossing spanning 10 lanes of the Ventura 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon Road, is now substantially complete. Phase 2, a smaller crossing over Agoura Road and slopes connecting the crossing to the landscape on both sides, will begin soon. In the meantime, rocks, soil, seeds and plants will be placed on the main crossing to have a year to establish before the estimated opening toward the end of 2026. Designed for Wildlife Caltrans worked with expert partners and applied research by NPS wildlife biologists, to choose the crossing site and design every last detail. First, the location: “This is the last place on Ventura freeway where there is open space on both sides of the freeway,” Comeaux said. “From the tracking collars used by scientists in the National Park Service on bobcats and mountain lions, we see that for years they have tried to cross the freeway at this point.” The size of the crossing was also mandated by science. “You cannot build something very long and narrow, because animals will view it as a trap. That’s why tunnels have limited success,” Comeaux explained. “It had to be very open and natural.” NWF’s Pratt had worked on other wildlife crossings with Robert Rock, President and CEO of Rock Design Associates in Chicago, and brought him into this project. Rock worked with Caltrans to alter the color of the concrete to a dusky mocha that reflects less light, put lower temperature lights on shorter poles, and to use walls that scatter sound and decrease light both on the crossing and leading up to it. Rock led the landscape design and plant propagation. “We are using exclusively
Phase 1 Construction of Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Nearly Complete By Elizabeth Smilor Special Sections Writer I n the dark of night last May, a barn owl followed the path of the unfinished Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills. “For the first time in decades, there was a dark spot over the freeway and Dr. Travis Longcore (UCLA adjunct professor and director of the Urban Wildlands Group) and a group of students witnessed this unexpected flyover,” said National Wildlife Federation (NWF) California Regional Executive Director Beth Pratt, who led the crossing fundraising effort. The sighting was exciting for the many people involved in the public-private partnership behind the planning and building of what will be the largest wildlife crossing in the world and the first of its kind in California.
together. This isn’t just a wildlife crossing, it is reconnecting a really significant wildlife habitat, so that all kinds of species can continue to live successfully in the Santa Monica Mountains.” The project broke ground on Earth Day 2022 and was inspired in part by the story of P-22, the only mountain lion known to have successfully crossed the maze of freeways to live in and around Griffith Park, until his death in December 2022. It involves the collaboration of Caltrans, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), the National Park Service (NPS), NWF, and the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCD) along with a number of additional supporting agencies and organizations. Over 5,000 individuals, foundations, agencies and businesses from around the world have raised more than $98 million. The total cost comes from about equal parts private and public monies, Comeaux said, adding that all public funds were from environment-specific grants, such as Prop. 68, not transportation funds.
LEGO ® bricks in the crossing model designed by Rock Design Associates
and Martin Egemo. Vote for it in the LEGO ® Ideas contest here: https://ideas.lego.com/ projects/75c9526f-98f6- 43bc-8411-b6ff5b2eda43
native plant species, all part of the coastal sage scrub family to fit the environment of the structure and the fairly shallow soil depth of 1-4 feet,”
Rock said. “All the plants grown are from seeds sourced within a five-mile radius of the crossing, and propagated in a nursery. We’re literally stitching the land back together with plant species from either side of the crossing.” In addition to the collection of more than 1 million hyper-local seeds, Rock said the team has collected native soil biology – mycorrhizal fungi, beneficial bacteria, and soil microorganisms – from local reference sources that are being used to propagate the plants in the nursery and will be installed with the plants on the crossing as well. This attention to detail was
“It corroborated what researchers already knew, that once we block out the headlight glare and much of the traffic noise, animals of all types will in fact cross there,” said Michael Comeaux, recently retired Caltrans District 7 Public Information Officer for the project. “It’s been almost magical watching this project coming
Continue Crossings, Page 8
Photo by Mel Melcon, Los Angeles Times
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