World’s largest wildlife crossing planned for California highway
United States
Like many urban singles, the mountain lion P-22 lives a solitary life in a too-small habitat. And he has a hard time finding a mate in the big city.
Famous for travelling across two freeways and making a huge Los Angeles park his home, the lonesome big cat has become a symbol of the shrinking genetic diversity of wild animals that must remain all but trapped by sprawling development or risk becoming roadkill.
Hoping to fend off the extinction of mountain lions and other species that require room to roam, transportation officials and conservationists are to build a mostly privately funded wildlife crossing over a major Southern California highway. It will give big cats, coyotes, deer, lizards, snakes and other creatures a safe route to open space, and better access to food and potential mates.
The span along US 101 will only be the second animal overpass in a state where tunnels are more common. Officials say it will be the first of its kind near a major metropolis and the largest in the world, stretching 61m above 10 lanes of busy highway and a feeder road just 56km northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
‘‘When the freeway went in, it cut off an ecosystem. We’re just now seeing impacts of that,’’ said Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation.
Scientists tracking mountain lions fitted with GPS collars have found that roadways are largely trapping animals in the Santa Monica Mountains, which run along the Malibu coast and across the middle of Los Angeles to Griffith Park, where P-22 settled.
The result of that isolation, researchers say, is imminent genetic collapse for mountain lions. Habitat loss has driven the populations to inbreeding that could lead to extinction within 15 years unless the big cats regularly connect with other populations to increase their diversity.
The US$87 million (NZ$135M) bridge last month entered its final design phase. It’s on track for construction to start within two years, with completion by 2023, according to the California Department of Transportation.
Construction would take place mostly at night and would not require any lengthy shutdowns of the freeway, officials said. The agency hopes will inspire others like it across the state.
Eighty per cent of the money to build it will come from private sources. The remaining 20 per cent will come from public funds already allocated toward conservation projects.
Pratt is in charge of fundraising and is using P-22 – ‘‘the Brad Pitt of the cougar world’’ – as the poster cat for the campaign. More than US$13.5M (NZ$21M) in private funding has already been raised. Officials are considering offering naming rights to the bridge if an entity or individual – perhaps a Hollywood studio or star – comes up with a significant donation. –AP Climate Change,