The first round of plants was planted at the Agoura Hills wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway, with the massive $92 million project set for completion in one year.
Project leaders of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing ceremoniously planted some of the 5,000 native plants on Tuesday, creating a natural habitat for the animals who will cross and inhabit the 1-acre site.
“This is reconnecting the Santa Monica Mountains to the rest of the world, for all wildlife,” Beth Pratt, California’s executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, said. “And that means being meticulous about designing a full habitat on top.”
Over one million hyper-local seeds were collected within a five-mile radius, with a dedicated nursery team that has been growing the plants for years.
Project leaders of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing ceremoniously planted some of the 5,000 native plants on Tuesday, creating a natural habitat.
CBS LA
Pratt noted that this creates more than just a crossing, but a habitat intended to support mountain lions, desert cottontails, lizards, bobcats, deer, bats, monarch butterflies, and dozens of bird species.
“There’s about eight layers under you to make sure the water flows, to make sure there is habitat under the ground for some species, to make sure the soil was right. We were collecting fungal spores and doing soil samples eight years ago,” Pratt said.
Work on the wildlife crossing began in 2022 and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2026. The 165-foot-wide crossing spans 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon Road, and is off-limits to humans; it’s only for animals.
More work is to be done as the relocation of utility lines is underway. “We don’t want Calabasas and Agoura to lose electricity or their main water source, so we kind of have to go a little slow on that, but that’s what’s happening right now,” Pratt said. Â
Tuesday’s celebration also kicks off P-22 week. Los Angeles’ favorite mountain lion, P-22, had to be euthanized in 2022 from what animal care workers described as chronic health problems and too many severe injuries, suspected to be linked to a vehicle strike. P-22 was famously known for roaming through the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Park area.
Researchers have estimated that the mountain lion population in the Santa Monica Mountains could become extinct within 50 years. The lions are largely isolated due to freeways that act as barriers to movement across the region.
The crossing is named for the Annenberg Foundation, a major financial contributor to the effort. The effort is a public-private partnership that includes 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. Â
The P-22 Day Festival is Saturday, Oct. 25, at Griffith Park, 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
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