Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, said during a planting ceremony atop the bridge that it\u2019s emotional to see the soul of the project take shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was an impossible dream that started decades ago,\u201d said Pratt, who is also leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign. \u201cThis is reconnecting the Santa Monica Mountains to the rest of the world \u2014 for all wildlife.”<\/p>\n
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is now in its final construction stage and is on track to be finished by the end of next year.<\/p>\n
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Annenberg wildlife crossing<\/p>\n
(<\/p>\n
Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
LAist<\/p>\n
)<\/p>\n
About the plants<\/p>\n
The native plants, which include dozens of species sourced from within a 5-mile radius of the crossing in the Santa Monica Mountains, come from a nursery that was created specifically for the project. Officials said a nursery team spent the last four years collecting more than 1.1 million hyper-local seeds by hand to support the soon-to-be habitat. <\/p>\n
They include narrowleaf milkweed<\/a>, which is critical for the monarch butterfly population, purple sage, which attracts hummingbirds, and California aster, which provides pollen and nectar to bees.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The ceremony started with an Indigenous blessing and prayer led by Alan Salazar \u2014 also known as Puchuk Ya’ia’c or Fast Runner \u2014 an elder in the Fernande\u00f1o Tataviam and Venture\u00f1o Chumash tribes. He left an offering of tobacco and sage along the ground where the plants would be placed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t been too kind and gentle to Mother Earth, and we need to make up for some of those mistakes,\u201d Salazar said as he scattered the offering. \u201cToday, we\u2019re making up for some of them.\u201d<\/p>\n The first three plants were installed in honor of long-time project supporters who couldn\u2019t be at the ceremony \u2014 actor Leonardo Dicaprio, Gov. Gavin Newsom and philantropist Wallis Annenberg, who died in July<\/a>. <\/p>\n Pratt said there wouldn\u2019t be a wildlife crossing without Annenberg\u2019s help.<\/p>\n \n A stuffed mountain lion plush in front of where the first native plants were placed.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n Beth Pratt (right), leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign, placing a native plant with a member of the nursery team.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n Project partners, including members of the plant nursery team, posing for a picture with installed native plants on the wildlife crossing.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n The native plants that are being placed on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing include dozens of distinct species sourced from within a five-mile radius of the structure in the Santa Monica Mountains.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Courtesy of the #SaveLACougars campaign<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n Beth Pratt, wearing a pink high-visibility vest, leads the first handfuls of soil dropped on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing construction on Monday, March 31.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n The view from near the top of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on Monday, March 31.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \n Some of the soil that will layer the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.\n <\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Makenna Sievertson<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n LAist<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n The other plants were installed by officials with Caltrans, the city of Agoura Hills, the Wallis Annenberg Legacy Foundation and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, among other organizations. Pratt noted that the National Park Service researchers who worked on the crossing couldn\u2019t be there to celebrate the milestone because of the ongoing government shutdown<\/a>, which she said was \u201cshameful.\u201d<\/p>\n