A new wildlife crossing northwest of Los Angeles will be the world's largest crossing of its kind in the world.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is under construction over the 101 Freeway near Agoura Hills. Designed to provide mountain lions and other wildlife with a safe way to cross the freeway, the fully landscaped passage will stretch 210 feet over 10 lanes of highway and pavement.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, more than two decades of study by the National Park Service in the Los Angeles area has shown roads and development are not only proving deadly for animals trying to cross but have also created islands of habitat that can genetically isolate all wildlife—from bobcats to birds to lizards. The species most immediately at risk, the mountain lion, could vanish from the area within our lifetime.
Scroll down for renderings of the project.
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The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will provide a way for animals to cross the 101 freeway. | Annenberg Foundation / Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
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“Wildlife crossings restore ecosystems that had 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.” Wallis Annenberg Chairman, President, and CEO of the Annenberg Foundation.
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"Of all the area roads, multiple research and planning efforts have identified the 101 Freeway as the most significant barrier to the ecological health of the region—this crossing will re-connect an entire ecosystem that has long been fragmented by this almost impenetrable obstacle for wildlife" - National Wildlife Federation.
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"By building a wildlife crossing over the ten lanes of freeway and an access road — in the last 1,600 feet in the area that possesses protected land north and south of the 101 — this project will re-establish ecological connectivity for a multitude of native plant and animal species in the Santa Monica Mountains ecosystem." -National Wildlife Federation
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"This visionary structure will preserve biodiversity across the region by connecting an integral wildlife corridor, and most immediately critical, help save a threatened local population of mountain lions from extinction." - National Wildlife Federation.
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"When complete, the crossing will be the largest in the world, the first of its kind in California, and it will serve as a global model for urban wildlife conservation" -National Wildlife Federation.
