“Now, we’re starting to see physical evidence of it.” “The genetic diversity of our mountain lions is dangerously low,” said Jeff Sikich, a biologist with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area and an expert on local mountain lion populations. Instead, most of the funds come from over 3,000 private, philanthropic, and corporate donors around the world, including a recent $25-million challenge grant from Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation. Project partners include the California Department of Transportation, the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Resource Conservation the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, the National Wildlife Federation, and Rock, principal and chief operating officer of Living Habitats.īecause the bridge crosses the interstate, Caltrans will oversee design and construction - but the transportation agency is not providing funding.

“Beyond that, building a wildlife crossing to carry them over one of the busiest freeways in the nation sends a powerful message out to the world that Angelenos care about nature’s role in all of urban life,” he said. “From a biological perspective,” Shaffer said, “large top carnivores like mountain lions have beneficial cascading consequences on everything in the food chain - from mule deer to ground squirrels, lizards and insects.

Freeway overpass