SGI USA

World’s Largest Wildlife Crossing Breaks Ground in California

The following was adapted from a March 24, 2022, article published on the National Wildlife Federation website, nwf.org.

LOS ANGELES—This past Earth Day, April 22, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and its partners held a landmark ceremony to celebrate the start of construction on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing—the world’s largest wildlife crossing and the first of its kind in California.

The NWF called the crossing, which will span over 10 lanes of the 101 freeway in Los Angeles, a “project for the next century,” in expectation of its lasting benefits to the area’s wildlife and ecology.

“This project is truly incredible,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary for the California Natural Resources Agency, which manages California’s natural environment. “As the largest wildlife crossing of its kind in the world, it will provide lifesaving habitat connectivity to a broad array of animals . ... It also shows us what is possible when unique partners come together to think creatively and then act boldly and decisively.”

The project’s monumental scope has motivated partnership between public and private spheres and leveraged expertise and leadership from dozens of organizations and institutions.

Tony Tavares, speaking on behalf of the California Department of Transportation, expressed his pride as a partner to the “tireless efforts and collaboration” that have brought the project to fruition, naming the NWF, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, National Park Service and the City of Agoura Hills as but a few of the key team players.

The crossing responds to two decades of study by the National Park Service showing that roads and development are deadly for animals trying to cross and that they create islands of habitat that can genetically isolate wildlife, from bobcats to birds and lizards. The visionary wildlife crossing will preserve biodiversity across the region by reconnecting an integral wildlife corridor and, critically, help save a threatened local population of mountain lions from extinction.

The project is expected to have a global impact as an enduring model for urban wildlife conservation everywhere. “I think we will look back decades from now,” Secretary Crowfoot said, “and realize that this project galvanized a new era of conserving and reconnecting nature.”

The NWF called the crossing ... a “project for the next century,” in expectation of its lasting benefits to the area’s wildlife and ecology.

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2022-05-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-20T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sgiusapublications.pressreader.com/article/281655373670771

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