As a much-anticipated wildlife crossing over the Ventura (101) Freeway in the Agoura Hills area nears completion, biologists plan to install surveillance cameras this month so they can document what types of animals approach and use the landscaped bridge.
According to the National Park Service, biologists with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will use the remote cameras to help them understand how wildlife respond to the crossing connecting the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, when animals use it and its overall effectiveness.
“This is more than just about whether animals use the crossing,” Seth Riley, the wildlife branch lead at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said in a statement. “We want to understand how effective it is in reconnecting an ecosystem that has been divided by the freeway for decades. That is a much bigger scientific question and answering it will take years.”
According to the NPS, scientists last week captured the first photo of a curious animal — a coyote — climbing the southern slope of the still-unfinished crossing. Scientists have also seen animals such as bobcats, coyotes, foxes, mule deer and mountain lions using a trail adjacent to the crossing.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is scheduled for Dec. 2. The crossing will be the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world, officials said.
The project is intended to reconnect wildlife habitat fragmented by the freeway, allowing mountain lions and other animals to move between areas of the Santa Monica Mountains. The crossing is the result of decades of wildlife research, planning and engineering and a collaboration involving the National Wildlife Federation, Caltrans, the National Park Service and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, organizers said.
NPS officials said images of animals captured by surveillance cameras on the crossing will be made available to the public, but not in real time, “for security purposes.”
“The camera installation is part of a broader scientific monitoring program developed by National Park Service biologists, project partners, and other researchers,” according to the NPS. “The framework includes 14 objectives, ranging from documenting use by mountain lions, mule deer, and other wildlife to evaluating changes in genetic diversity, vegetation communities, light and sound, and other measures of ecological function.”