The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will be the largest wildlife corridor in the world, spanning 10 lanes across the 101 freeway, one of the busiest roads in the country. When finished, the crossing will blend seamlessly between two protected areas on either side of the freeway, providing a safe corridor for local wildlife at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills.
The crossing broke ground on Earth Day, April 22, 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
The National Wildlife Federation (Save LA Cougars) is leading the project.
“Wildlife crossings restore ecosystems that have been fractured and disrupted. They reconnect lands and species that are aching to be whole. I believe these crossings go beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation that is long overdue.”
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SAMO Fund’s role in the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Beth Pratt - California Regional Director for the National Wildlife team (second from left), with P22 were joined by Deanna Armbruster, Charlotte Parry, Angela Heald and Nicole Kaplan from SAMO Fund at the groundbreaking for the crossing
The research SAMO Fund supported 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 the 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 Crossing 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.
Additionally, SAMO Fund is one of several partners establishing a Native Plant Nursery to grow appropriate flora that will be placed atop the crossing to provide animal habitat so the corridor will blend seamlessly into the habitats it will connect, down to the biological micro systems sustaining life. SAMO Fund has worked with NPS to staff the nursery.
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.
CalTrans photos showing the progress of the construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
All photo and video credits to CalTrans District 7
Click HERE to learn about the threats our mountain lions are facing and how biologists are trying to solve the problem.