MSN_032218

14 | March 22, 2018 | Malibu surfside news News
malibusurfsidenews.com
Mountain lion uses culvert to cross the 101 Freeway
Submitted by National Park
Service
National Park Service researchers
have documented
a rare case of a mountain
lion crossing the 101 Freeway
in the Liberty Canyon
area of Agoura Hills, underscoring
the area’s importance
as the ideal location
for a wildlife crossing.
An adult male mountain
lion known as P-64 was
captured on Boeing property
at the Santa Susana Field
Laboratory on Feb. 28 and
outfitted with a GPS collar.
The following day, he
headed south, and surprised
researchers by crossing the
101 Freeway.
Trail cameras in the
area show P-64, estimated
to be 3 or 4 years
of age, used a culvert that
runs under the freeway to
cross, and he is believed
to be the same mountain
lion that researchers have
recently documented using
that same culvert. His
home range may include
the northern portion of the
Santa Monica Mountains,
the Simi Hills and the Santa
Susana Mountains. Adult
male mountain lions can
have home ranges of up to
200 square miles.
“It’s really interesting
that this mountain lion figured
out how to use this
extremely long and dark
culvert under the freeway,”
said Seth Riley, wildlife
ecologist for Santa Monica
Mountains National Recreation
Area. “We have had
many other collared mountain
lions come close to the
freeway in the Liberty Canyon
area and not manage to
get across.”
National Park Service
researchers have been intensely
monitoring the
area for nearly three years
with several trail cameras,
both along Liberty Canyon
Road and in nearby natural
areas. During that time,
cameras have detected
many different species including
bobcats, coyotes,
mountain lions, mule deer
and raccoons close to the
freeway. Biologists had not
confirmed that any animals
managed to cross to the
other side of the freeway
until it was recently discovered
that P-64 used the
culvert to cross.
From 1999-2000, CSU
Northridge master’s student
Sandy Ng monitored
the same culvert with remote
cameras and recorded
zero bobcats, coyotes, deer,
or mountain lions using it
over a 12-month period.
The culvert stretches more
than 640 feet under the
freeway, is sometimes full
of water, and is completely
dark because it bends along
the way. The only animals
detected during this earlier
monitoring period were
raccoons, skunks and an
opossum.
“This discovery is exciting
because it reaffirms
that the proposed wildlife
crossing at Liberty Canyon
is going in the right place
and, once completed, will
be used by mountain lions
and other wildlife,” Riley
said. “Though we clearly
cannot count on the Liberty
Creek culvert in general for
connectivity, it shows the
importance of this location
and the ability and drive of
these animals to find ways
to get across.”
Caltrans, along with
numerous other partners,
proposes building a wildlife
crossing over the 101
Freeway and Agoura Road
in the Liberty Canyon area
and last fall released the
The adult male mountain lion known as P-64 was recently documented crossing the 101 Freeway in the Liberty
Canyon area of Agoura Hills. National Park Service
“This discovery is exciting because it reaffirms that
the proposed wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon is
going in the right place and, once completed, will
be used by mountain lions and other wildlife.”
Seth Riley — wildlife ecologist for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation
Area
draft initial study and environmental
assessment
for the project. A wide and
vegetated crossing over
the freeway would serve
a broader range of species
than a tunnel under the
freeway.
The 101 Freeway is a
major obstacle for wildlife
movement between the
Santa Monica Mountains
and other natural areas
to the north. That lack of
connectivity has led to inbreeding
and reduced genetic
diversity among the
mountain lion population
in the Santa Monica Mountains.
A study co-authored
in 2016 with researchers at
UCLA found that without
increased connectivity, especially
animals moving in
from the north, this would
lead to the continued erosion
of genetic diversity
and increase the chances of
extinction of the mountain
range’s population.
The lack of connectivity
also limits dispersal of
young male mountain lions,
who at about 1 or 1-and-ahalf
years old leave their
mother to find a territory.
Without the ability to easily
leave the Santa Monica
Mountains, young males
become trapped in another
male’s territory, potentially
increasing the chances of
conflict. While adult males
generally overlap with
many female lions within
their territory, they will
fight other males, which
can lead to death.
Since the mountain lion
study began in 2002, P-64
is only the fifth mountain
lion documented to have
crossed the 101 Freeway,
and just the second, after
P12 in 2009, to come into
the Santa Monica Mountains
from other natural areas
to the north. During that
same timeframe, 18 mountain
lions have been struck
and killed by vehicles on
roads and freeways within
the study area.
The purpose of the National
Park Service research
is to determine how mountain
lions in and around the
Santa Monica Mountains
survive in an increasingly
fragmented and urbanized
environment.
The California Department
of Fish and Wildlife
is responsible for overseeing
the management and
conservation of mountain
lions in the state.