National Wildlife FederationGrantee:
Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Project:
$500,000.00EEM Funded Project Cost:
The National Wildlife Federation project is constructing the first of its kind safe and sustainable passage for wildlife across US-101 at Liberty Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains.
The world’s largest wildlife crossing will be a 210-footlong animal bridge spanning ten lanes of freeway. The project will reconnect protected open space within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area currently fragmented by the highway to re-establish ecological connectivity and protect California’s native wildlife and over 300,000 drivers daily.
The Related Transportation Facility (RTF) associated with the grant was the Interstate 405 Sepulveda Pass Widening and High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Project, which increased the width of the freeway throughout the Sepulveda Pass. Adverse impacts of the RTF included diminished wildlife corridors and habitat loss. The wildlife crossing helps complete required mitigation measures to restore and revegetate these impacted wildlife corridors.
