The world’s largest wildlife crossing, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, is now standing west of Los Angeles in California. This behemoth, a feat of sustainable engineering that will reconnect habitats bisected by the 10-lane 101 Freeway, has been in discussion for more than 30 years.
When fully completed, the crossing in Liberty Canyon within the Agoura Hills region of the Santa Monica Mountains will be a living lifeline for reptiles and mammals to reach habitats on either side of the fast-flowing freeway. Not only will it be the first of its kind in California, but it’s hoped it will also act as a “global model for urban wildlife conservation”.
The real excitement will be seeing it used by the species the crossing has mainly been built to protect from habitat isolation and interaction with humans and vehicles, namely California’s mountain lions (also known as pumas and cougars).
However, this is a bridge for all wildlife and it’ll benefit a wide range of species big and small, from bobcats, coyotes, mule deer and black bears to desert cottontail rabbits, skunks, American badgers and California bats, not to mention Pacific gopher snakes and crocodile lizards.
And it’s not just for fauna: some 5,000 plants grown from seed collected within a five-mile radius have been nurtured in two specially created nurseries. The bridge will be topped with wildflowers, shrubs and native grasses that will also benefit insect populations.
Named after Wallis Annenberg of the Annenberg Foundation, which has been instrumental in coordinating public and private funding for the $92 million project in partnership with the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), work on the bridge officially commenced on Earth Day, 22 April 2022 and is due to be completed in 2026.
But dedicated wildlife crossings aren’t new, the first overland crossings having popped up in France in the 1950s. Today, countless examples of all shapes and sizes can be found worldwide.
From Africa’s first elephant underpasses in Kenya and the rope bridges found in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro for rare golden lion tamarin monkeys to the red crab bridges over roads on Christmas Island, which facilitate the migration of these large scarlett crustaceans, these vital lifelines are increasingly the norm.
And this particular wildlife crossing was a long time coming, as David Szymanski, Superintendent of National Park Service - Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, says: “Twenty years of research shows that the biggest conservation challenge facing the wildlife of the Santa Monica Mountains is isolation by roads and development. This forward-looking project will help to end the isolation and reconnect natural habitat.”
Building the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Find out more about the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Main image: bird's-eye view of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing/Rock Design Associates and NWF
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