SAMO Fund is one of several partners that established the Native Plant Nursery for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. The nursery propagates a wide variety of locally sourced native species chosen to restore the living landscape atop and around the crossing. Plants such as California sagebrush, black sage, and coast buckwheat provide essential forage for pollinators and small mammals, while native oaks, sycamores, and toyon create shade, structure, and long-term habitat. Milkweed and goldenrod support monarchs and other butterflies, and native grasses like purple needlegrass and wild rye help stabilize soils and prevent erosion.

Every plant is selected for its ecological role, ensuring the corridor blends seamlessly into the habitats it connects. Together, these species form complex, drought-tolerant plant communities that mimic natural ecosystems, support pollinators, birds, and mammals, and sustain the micro-systems of fungi, insects, and soil life that make biodiversity possible. Through this living infrastructure, the nursery is helping create a resilient landscape that will allow wildlife to move safely across generations.

Additionally, the research funding SAMO Fund provided was integral to supporting and recognizing the need for building the crossing. Habitat fragmentation threatens wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains. Wildlife populations that have been isolated by human development cannot move safely and reach the resources they need to survive. Isolated populations have lower genetic diversity, making wildlife succumb to disease more easily, and increasing the risk of inherited abnormalities.

In extreme cases, animals can be left totally isolated. As we know, one cougar became the face of the campaign for the crossing. P22, the lonely mountain lion from National Geographic fame was isolated in the Hollywood hills for over 10 years and had no chance of mating. Sadly, he was struck by a car and had to be euthanized in December 2023.

The 101 freeway was identified as the most significant barrier to the ecological health of our region, both in terms of accidents and the creation of isolated populations. To help combat this, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, opening in late 2026, will be a seamless corridor providing a safe passage for all our local wildlife, including the area’s protected mountain lions.

SAMO Fund has contributed funding for NPS wildlife research for the past two decades. It was NPS research that demonstrated the need for construction of the crossing and offered the impetus to the campaign leading to construction.

The core partners for the Crossing are the California Department of Transportation, the National Wildlife Federation, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority/Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains and the National Park Service.