The Irvine-Laguna Wildlife Corridor
Connecting Orange County’s Coastal Wilderness To The Santa Ana Mountains.
It’s always good to hear about efforts underway to preserve land for wildlife corridors outside of our region. This story comes to us from Washington State, where urbanization has threatened the natural movement of animals and plants in the region. Congratulations to Columbia Land Trust, which will complete this wildlife corridor with the acquisition of Mill Creek Ridge.
Read the story here.
*Photo courtesy of Hood River News, via Columbia Land Trust
People living in Orange County know that coyotes have been making it into the papers the past several months. Elisabeth Brown, Ph.D., Laguna Greenbelt’s president, expressed her point of view on coyotes in an op-ed earlier this month. Check it out to learn more about why coyotes are essential to maintaining our ecosystems, and what we can do (and not do) to help people and wildlife coexist in our urban and urbanizing neighborhoods.
Read Dr. Brown’s piece in the Laguna Beach Independent.
A study authored by researchers at the US Geological Survey, along with group of international scientists, has used new techniques to isolate effects of biodiversity, and further confirmed that biodiversity is necessary for ecosystem health.
These findings help resolve a question about whether species diversity is necessary to maintain the health of ecosystems around the world, and may guide policy makers in how to respond to the effects of climate change on biodiversity moving forward.
More information about the study can be found at: USGS and Nature.
By Gabriela Worrel
On January 14, Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. attended the first public scoping meeting presenting the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing in Los Angeles County. It was an inspirational event, and it became clear by the end that there was a lot of love in the room for wildlife and open space from local residents, political leaders, and community organizations. About 300 people joined Caltrans at the King Gillette Ranch on January 14, 2016 to hear the agency’s proposal for a green bridge over Highway 101 in Agoura Hills at Liberty Canyon Rd. The agency presented three options: one involving no action, one involving a bridge over the freeway only, and one involving a bridge extending over the freeway and Agoura Rd. The bridge would be a vital linkage between two important large ecosystems in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Santa Susana Mountains. The project is expected to cost $55 million. The National Wildlife Federation has committed to raising the necessary funds through private donations and public funds already slated for conservation projects like this one. The crowd seemed to overwhelmingly support the project, and not one person voiced opposition to the project during the public comment period – a rare occurrence indeed.
Both bridge options include the presence of a recreational trail on the bridge – one that would connect hiking trails on either side of the freeway and undoubtedly delight local outdoorsman, for good reason; What nature-loving trekker wouldn’t want to be able to cross over the 101 in search of more nature? This being said, Laguna Greenbelt supports the building of this project, and strongly urges Caltrans to carefully consider the impact of humans and domestic animals such as dogs and horses on the movement of wildlife across the bridge. Some studies done in our region have shown that even intermittent presence of humans and animals can discourage the presence of key predator species (*note references in footnote?). This may potentially undermine the success of animals using the bridge – we will ask Caltrans in our comments to bring in experts (to comment) on this issue during the next phase of the project.
The impetus for the overpass has been a desire to prevent animal mortality on local highways and genetic inbreeding in mountain lions living in the region. Caltrans reports that: “The purpose of the proposed project is to provide a safe and sustainable wildlife passage across the freeway in order to help create an important linkage in the region. The crossing would help reduce wildlife mortality, ease animal movement across habitats, and allow for the exchange of genetic material.” The location was selected for a variety of reasons, including the presence of protected open space on both sides that is not at risk for development, and past attempts by animals to cross the freeway at this point.
Studies conducted by public agencies over the past two decades have shown that mountain lions, which live solitary lives and typically need large ranges to roam and find new mates, are blocked from movement by highway 101. As a result, they are particularly at risk for problems resulting from competition for space among young cougars, and genetic inbreeding. Seth Riley, a head biologist for the National Park Service and consultant on the project, noted that already, genetic analyses have shown decreases in genetic variability in the population adjacent to the freeway. While the main target is mountain lions, the bridge will also benefit other species, such as the Western Fence Lizard, skinks, and a bird called the wrentit, among others.
The next step for the project is for Caltrans to gather public comments and produce an Environmental Document. Public comments may be submitted through January 29, 2016 at liberty.canyon@dot.ca.gov, or mail a letter to Barbara Marquez, Senior Planner (click on Caltrans link below for the address). The agency expects to show the project will have no negative environmental impacts, thus avoiding the need to complete an Environmental Impact Report.
Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. is currently working to see the completion of the Coast to Cleveland Wildlife Corridor in Irvine, California, and while the Liberty Canyon Crossing is in the neighboring county, wildlife connectivity is a regional issue – not just a local one – especially when we know that many animals have large ranges and need to move between distant ecosystems to thrive. This crossing would be an exciting development for wildlife in southern California in order to maintain the genetic diversity in the Orange County coastal wild lands, the Santa Ana Mountains, and beyond.
For more information on the project, visit Caltran’s web page: http://dot.ca.gov/dist07/travel/projects/libertycanyon/. Follow the campaign and donate to the building of the project, dubbed #SaveLaCougars, at http://www.savelacougars.org.
*Gabriela Worrel is an outreach coordinator at Laguna Greenbelt, Inc.
This is a piece of old news, but good news, and it reminds us that in the effort to protect people and wildlife on our urbanizing landscape, people can use a variety of tools. Fencing is a cost-effective tool that can go a long way towards protecting wildlife and people from each other when it’s placed appropriately. In this case, fencing was installed along the 241 freeway in Orange County from the 261 to 91 freeways – an important wildlife corridor for cougars, and one that represented an area with high mortality. Since the fence was installed in 2014, there have been no vehicle-wildlife collisions within the project area. The SR-241 Wildlife Protection Fence Project was honored with the Innovative Transportation Solutions award in 2015 by the Orange County chapter of the WTS, an international organization advancing women in transportation planning.
http://www.pe.com/articles/road-682732-mountain-fencing.html
http://thetollroadsblog.com/2014/01/31/state-route-241-wildlife-fence-improvement-project/
This week, The Indy and Stu News Laguna included news about the corridor in their community news sections. Local publications like this are vital to the success of the important work that gets done around town. We are thankful for all the local support from our community publications and other partners in the area.
Laguna G
reenbelt, Inc., is partnering with UC Irvine and students from the UCLA Environmental Science Practicum program to advance the completion and effectiveness of the Coast to Cleveland Wildlife Corridor. When completed, the 6-mile corridor, an ongoing project located in the city of Irvine, will connect 22,000 acres of wild lands in parks along the Laguna Coast to more than 150,000 acres of similar habitats in the foothills and Santa Ana mountains. This is a vital linkage needed for the health of wildlife in the region, which rely on movement between ecosystems to find resources and genetically distinct mates.
On January 15, 2016, Laguna Greenbelt will host a workshop for a graduate student from UCI and a team of six undergraduate students from The UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Sarah Geldmacher, a student in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning program at UCI, will study the project and make recommendations for the best long-term management strategies for the corridor. Along with Ms. Geldmacher, the six UCLA environmental science students will join the workshop to jumpstart their undergraduate client project. They will potentially examine any barriers to animals moving around the area coastward of the I-5 and will research how the existing corridor segment can be altered to maximize movement of animals away from urban areas and into the coastal and mountain wild lands.
UC Irvine and UCLA have long partnered with local businesses and nonprofit organizations in a variety of fields, from scientific field studies and technology to social work, urban planning, and medicine. Laguna Greenbelt, Inc., is hopeful that collaboration with local students and academic professionals will be a win-win for the participants and the community in Orange County.
The Coast to Cleveland Wildlife Corridor, located in Irvine, California, is a work in progress
envisioned by Laguna Greenbelt, Inc., and supported by a coalition of partners. When completed, it will be unique among corridors in the United States. It will cross lands owned and managed by different entities, and will connect wildlife habitats along the coast to similar habitats in the mountains. Animals use corridors to move between ecosystems in search of resources, places to raise their young, genetically distinct mates, and to escape natural disasters.
Wildlife like native bobcats and cactus wrens will pass through a variety of landscapes as they wind their way over six miles of a huge shopping center, under major freeways, and over green spaces in the foothills approaching the Santa Ana Mountains.
Visit wildlifecorridor.org to learn more about wildlife corridors, and progress on this unique project.
In November, the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot published our commentary on the Coast to Cleveland Wildlife Corridor. This corridor, like all wildlife corridors, will be used by plants and animals to move between two larger habitats. Our bobcats, rabbits, cactus wrens, and even plants depend on the ability to move from place to place safely.
Part of the Laguna Greenbelt mission is educating the public about the open space and why the health of our parks and open spaces is at risk.
March 21, 2014
The following appeared in Stu News Laguna on March 21, 2014, under a different title:
Progress for the Coast to Cleveland Wildlife Corridor
The effort to complete a regional wildlife corridor reconnecting the Laguna Greenbelt to the Santa Ana Mountains took a big step forward in November. That’s when the Irvine City Council adopted a ‘Consensus Plan’ for the Great Park segments of the corridor. The plan was the result of a year of negotiations between an environmental coalition led by Laguna Greenbelt, Inc., and Five Point Communities; with input from a panel of wildlife movement experts. The consensus plan was also endorsed by both Federal and State wildlife agencies.
The critical wildlife corridor will reconnect the isolated local coastal wildlands with the much larger habitat areas in the Cleveland National Forest. For the first time, the wildlife corridor has an adopted plan, a funding source and a schedule for completion of the three central, most difficult, and most expensive segments. Unlike other segments, the Great Park segments have to be constructed from other land uses on the closed El Toro MCAS base.
Laguna Greenbelt, Inc., is pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, and will continue working with FivePoint Communities and the City of Irvine on a number of important associated issues before actual construction begins in a few years.
