Follow-Up: Park Service Launches Scientific Monitoring at Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, Set to Open to Wildlife on December 2
The National Park Service (NPS) announced on November 4 that biologists at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will install remote wildlife cameras in early November at the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing to document how animals use the landmark structure. The vegetated overpass spans the 101 Freeway and adjacent Agoura Road near Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, Los Angeles County, California, and is intended to reconnect wildlife populations separated for decades by the freeway.
The cameras will document which species approach and use the crossing, when they use it and how wildlife responds to the new connection between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills to the north, the agency said. Camera monitoring will be one of several methods scientists use to evaluate the crossing's effectiveness over time, and images of wildlife using the crossing will be publicly available, though not in real time for security purposes.
The installation is part of a broader scientific monitoring program developed by Park Service biologists, project partners and other researchers, with a framework of 14 objectives ranging from documenting use by mountain lions, mule deer and other wildlife to evaluating changes in genetic diversity, vegetation communities, light and sound and other measures of ecological function. "This is more than just about whether animals use the crossing," said Seth Riley, the wildlife branch lead at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. "We want to understand how effective it is in reconnecting an ecosystem that has been divided by the freeway for decades. That is a much bigger scientific question and answering it will take years."
Park biologists have studied wildlife and habitat fragmentation in the region since 1996, documenting how freeways and urban development restrict wildlife movement and gene flow, work that provided the scientific foundation for the crossing. Pre-construction monitoring has established a baseline that includes GPS tracking of larger mammals, monitoring of other potential crossing locations nearby and genetic studies of smaller vertebrates.
On October 28, scientists captured the first photo of an animal on the unfinished crossing, a coyote climbing its southern slope, and during recent construction monitoring park scientists observed bobcats, coyotes, gray foxes, mule deer and mountain lions regularly using a trail immediately adjacent to the future crossing. The project is led by state, federal and nonprofit partners including the National Wildlife Federation, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, Caltrans and the National Park Service, across a freeway that carries more than 300,000 vehicles a day. The crossing is scheduled to officially open to wildlife on December 2, 2026.
(Source: National Park Service)
Source: National Park Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：建设中的 Wallis Annenberg 野生动物通道横跨 101 号高速公路（2025年4月摄，资料图）。AragonChristopherR17Z 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。/ The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing under construction over the 101 Freeway in April 2025 (file photo). Photo by AragonChristopherR17Z, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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