This iconic L.A. mammal is the first to venture onto the wildlife crossing over the 101 Freeway
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On a brisk October morning, a coyote ventured onto a mound of dirt in Agoura Hills and inadvertently became a pioneer.
The canid became the first large mammal known to ascend the gargantuan wildlife crossing nearing completion over the bustling 101 Freeway.
“Oh my God, it’s already working,” said Beth Pratt, president of the Wildlife Crossing Fund.
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is intended to provide safe passage for wildlife locked in the Santa Monica Mountains by freeways and development. In particular, it could provide a lifeline for mountain lions suffering from the effects of inbreeding.
After a news conference on Oct. 8, Pratt said she urged National Park Service wildlife biologist Jeff Sikich to install a camera trained on a path leading up to the south side of the crossing. She said she playfully pestered him with daily texts asking if it was up.
On Oct. 14, Sikich put in a camera that monitors part of the slope near Agoura Road.
Then, last Wednesday, the coyote made its move. A black-and-white image snapped just after 6 a.m. shows the animal heading up the hill. It nearly blends in. Only its eye shines bright white. The National Park Service publicly shared the news Wednesday.
The coyote couldn’t cross the entire length of the structure, which consists of two overpasses — one above the freeway and one above an adjacent road — connected by a graded slope. The soil wasn’t built up high enough to connect them. (Pratt noted that smaller animals, like the Western fence lizard, have already been spotted on the crossing.)
Since then, crews have been rapidly building up the soil to create a seamless connection across the structures. Now larger animals — including mountain lions, bobcats or coyotes — could potentially make a full crossing.
That’s why Sikich said he rushed out on Tuesday to install six cameras on the crossing itself.
Remote monitoring was always part of the plan. Eventually more than 50 cameras taking still photos, along with four thermal video cameras, will capture the action, Sikich said.
Images and video won’t be posted live, but will be shared with the public.
Despite political backlash and past weather delays, the massive wildlife bridge over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills is racing toward a Dec. 2 opening. Now, the only threat to the deadline is Mother Nature.
The roughly $114-million crossing is set to open Dec. 2, barring any delays from fierce winter storms.
National Park Service scientists began studying carnivores in and around the Santa Monica Mountains in 1996. That year the first radio collars were put on bobcats and coyotes in Liberty Canyon, where the crossing is located. Research extended to mountain lions in 2002.
Scientists will be GPS radio tracking those species, along with deer and gray fox. That will allow them to see where the animals are moving.
They’re also in the process of implanting what are known as biologgers into deer and, soon, mountain lions. The devices will track physiological data including body temperature, heart rate and fat reserves. Among other things, researchers will be able to assess the animals’ physiological stress — for instance, if their heart rate spikes while going over the freeway.
“We’ve been spending decades, literally decades, documenting how wildlife has become isolated in the Santa Monica Mountains, and what makes us scientists excited is now we have this opportunity to study what happens when we reconnect it,” Sikich said.
The stakes are existential for the mountain range’s mountain lions, which are contending with critically low genetic diversity as close relatives mate. They’ve already shown alarming signs of inbreeding, including kinked tails and deformed testicles.
Scientists say the crossing will let the big cats seek mates in the Simi Hills and beyond — and allow fresh blood to travel into their neck of the woods. Sikich said even one mountain lion coming into the Santa Monicas and breeding could make a meaningful impact.
Even before the coyote began exploring the structure, there were signs of life all around. In less than two months, a different camera stationed not far from the southern end of the crossing picked up a plethora of critters, including a mountain lion with two older kittens and another uncollared lion.
Looking at those photos was a “poignant and emotional moment for me,” Pratt said, imagining that soon the risk of them being smashed by cars would drop. “There’s a lot of wrongs in the world, but we righted this one. We actually fixed this one for the wildlife.”
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