Mary Cummins Wildlife Rehabilitation Animal Advocates News Los Angeles California: liberty canyon

Showing posts with label liberty canyon. Show all posts

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Animal Advocates Celebrates Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on Earth Day

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, Animal Advocates, Liberty Canyon, Wildlife Crossing, Los Angeles, California, Agoura Hills, groundbreaking, mountain lion, cougar, Mary Cummins, Wallis Annenberg, The Annenberg Foundation, Santa Monica Mountains Fund, California Coastal Commission, California Wildlife Conservation Board, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, National Wildlife Federation, California Department of Fish & Wildlife

Earth Day 2022 theme is "Invest in Our Planet." Today we celebrate the investment of time and resources by many people and organizations in today's groundbreaking of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Los Angeles, California.

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is a planned vegetated overpass spanning the Ventura Freeway at Liberty Canyon in Agoura Hills, California. The bridge will be one of the largest urban wildlife crossings in the United States, connecting the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains over a busy freeway with ten traffic lanes.

The crossing is critical for the wildlife populations indigenous to the Santa Monica Mountains. The Ventura Freeway has acted as a barrier in the wildlife corridor between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. This has caused the Santa Monica Mountains wildlife and mountain lion populations to become genetically isolated. Bobcats, coyotes, deer, wren tits, fence lizards and other wildlife will also greatly benefit from the crossing.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates stated "We are incredibly thankful for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. While most mountain lions are killed by depredation permits, intraspecific conflict, and rat poison the crossing will greatly help mountain lions and wildlife for many years to come. We're happy to celebrate the wildlife crossing on Earth Day and the 20th anniversary of Animal Advocates."

Organizations involved: Caltrans, The Annenberg Foundation, Santa Monica Mountains Fund, California Coastal Commission, California Wildlife Conservation Board, Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, National Wildlife Federation, California Department of Fish & Wildlife and more.

Animal Advocates: (http://www.animaladvocates.us) Animal Advocates, a non-profit organization founded in 2002, rescues ill, injured and orphaned wildlife for release back to the wild in Los Angeles, California. Animal Advocates also provides animal education and humane wildlife control. Mary Cummins is the President.

Wallis Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation: (http://www.annenberg.org) The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation established in 1989. The Foundation supports the worldwide community through its grantmaking and direct charitable activities. Wallis Annenberg is the Chairman of the Board and CEO.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

Google+ Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary Cummins-Cobb, Mary, Cummins, Cobb, wildlife, wild, animal, rescue, wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife rehabilitator, fish, game, los angeles, california, united states, squirrel, raccoon, fox, skunk, opossum, coyote, bobcat, manual, instructor, speaker, humane, nuisance, control, pest, trap, exclude, deter, green, non-profit, nonprofit, non, profit, ill, injured, orphaned, exhibit, exhibitor, usda, united states department of agriculture, hsus, humane society, peta, ndart, humane academy, humane officer, animal legal defense fund, animal cruelty, investigation, peace officer, animal, cruelty, abuse, neglect #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit

Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate Services has been in real estate since 1983, over 35 years. She is licensed by the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. Mary Cummins was an agent and broker licensed with the California Department of Real Estate selling residential income, commercial buildings, raw land and homes for Merrill Lynch Realty in Beverly Hills and Westside Properties in Los Angeles before concentrating on appraisals. Mary Cummins currently provides real estate appraisals, expert witness testimony, historical research, legal real estate research for mortgage brokers, banks, lawyers, factors, insurance companies, financial consultants and private individuals. Mary Cummins was born and raised in Southern California. Cummins attended Beverly Hills Good Shepherd Catholic School and Beverly Hills High School. Besides being on the Dean's list, Mary Cummins was a top ten national swimmer and competed on the men's water polo team. Mary Cummins began college at the age of 15 attending the University of Southern California on scholarship, majoring in Psychology/Sociology. http://www.animaladvocates.us http://www.facebook.com/AnimalAdvocatesUSA

Friday, March 25, 2022

Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills to Break Ground April 22, 2022 by Mary Cummins, Animal Advocates

The $87 million wildlife crossing planned in Agoura Hills is about to become a reality.

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife crossing will break ground on what will eventually be the world's largest wildlife crossing on April 22, which is also Earth Day.

The crossing is designed to become a safe passage for wildlife to cross above the eight lanes of the busy 101 Freeway at Liberty Canyon Road in Agoura Hills. Construction will commence this summer, and is expected to be completed sometime next year.

The population of the Santa Monica Mountains' native mountain lions, particularly the famous photo of P-22 with the Hollywood Sign in the background in Griffith Park, were an inspiration for the bridge's inception. Just this week, a young mountain lion that had just become part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area's long-ranging mountain lion study was struck and killed by a car on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu — the latest in a string of mountain lions who have died while trying explore beyond the boundaries set by busy roadways.

The Santa Monica Mountains falls within one of just 36 "biodiversity hotspots" worldwide and is only one of two in the continental U.S., so the wildlife crossing re-establish a key connection to open space in the Simi Hills, and possibly further into the Santa Susana Mountains or Angeles National Forest.

Wallis Annenberg of the Annenberg Foundation is the major sponsor of the Wildlife Crossing.

GPS location. 34.137941951593284, -118.72807376595853 Closest address is 27571 Agoura Rd, Agoura Hills, CA 91301 extending North over the 101 freeway. The below map is 27571 Agoura Rd.

Mary Cummins

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Ground Breaking for Wildlife Crossing Planned January 2022 in Los Angeles, California by Mary Cummins

Caltrans Projected to Break Ground on Wildlife Bridge Over 101 Freeway in January 2022

ANIMAL WELFARE, ENVIRONMENT, PHILANTHROPY

Annenberg Foundation

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and Caltrans recently announced that they are breaking ground for the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in early 2022. The wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon over the 101 Freeway will reconnect a long-fragmented ecosystem and a biodiversity hotspot, and help protect the endangered mountain lion population and other wildlife that make their home in the Santa Monica Mountains. This crossing will be the first urban crossing of its scale – spanning 210 feet over ten lanes of highway and pavement, along with an access road – and is the first to be significantly funded through private donations along with public support. The #SaveLACougars campaign to build the crossing will serve as a model for urban wildlife conservation efforts across the globe.

Wallis Annenberg and Annenberg Foundation have been instrumental to the success of making this critical wildlife crossing a reality, by issuing a record-breaking challenge grant of $25 million earlier this year.

“There's a reason I wanted to support this crossing and issue this challenge: We need to move beyond mere conservation, toward a kind of environmental rejuvenation… It's a way of saying, there are solutions to our deepest ecological challenges, and this is the kind of fresh new thinking that will get us there.”

Wallis Annenberg

Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Annenberg Foundation

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing will help restore the habitats for the populations of wildlife that call the Santa Monica Mountains home. Isolation by highways and suburban development is a huge danger to wildlife and, if not addressed, this isolation will lead to a greater reduction of genetic diversity and ultimately cause the extinction of animals such as mountain lions.

“Over time, we've really done a good job of fragmenting our landscapes, which has affected a lot of the wildlife and habitats that we live around and that a lot of people enjoy… I think a lot of people didn't realize what kind of impacts we would have on some of the wildlife and habitats around us.”

Dr. Tiffany Yap

Senior Scientist and Wildlife Corridor Advocate, Center for Biological Diversity

Mary Cummins

Monday, July 15, 2019

Liberty Canyon Wildlife Crossing over 101 freeway Los Angeles by Mary Cummins Animal Advocates

Bringing the Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon to Life

The RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains has been working in collaboration with partners to bring the Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon to life. The crossing would knit together two crucial habitats, which are currently split by Highway 101, and will be crucial for preventing the extinction of the native cougar population.

Although mountain lions (or cougars) in California are not endangered as a whole, sub-sets of their population in southern California face risk of extinction due to urban encroachment, vehicle strikes, inbreeding, and other risks associated with being separated by lethal traffic and freeways like Highway 101. Cougars living in the Santa Monica Mountains face a genetic diversity problem with a 99.7 percent chance of extinction in the next 50 years unless the gene pool is increased, based on a 2016 University of California, Los Angeles study. The Resource Conservation District of Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) and their partners hope to fix this problem with a thoughtfully constructed and innovative wildlife crossing.

The 165-foot-wide, 200-foot-long Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon will span Highway 101 and connect two major cougar habitats. Liberty Canyon was identified as an ideal location for the project after a cougar attempted to cross in October 2013. The young male would have been a prime candidate for increasing genetic diversity in the southern population. It successfully crossed eight lanes of Highway 101, but was trapped by a retaining wall, struck, and killed.

After the cougar death, state senators representing the area called a meeting to see what the options were to help the cougars. Representatives from CalTrans, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the National Park Service’s Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Unit, and the RCD of Santa Monica Mountains came together to propose the crossing as the most viable solution.

The RCD received funding from the National Wildlife Federation to design the crossing, and final plans were created by Clark Stevens, RCDSMM’s Executive Officer, who is also an architect.

Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon map and infographic

Design and illustration by Clark Stevens, Executive Officer, the RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains

The crossing is not just a bridge, but also includes a larger habitat area to promote use by wildlife. Through a separate grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board, the RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains created a habitat thread down to the crossing zone, improved a man-made drainage ditch, and added a bio swale and a long thin riparian area. The project was badly impacted by the Woolsey Fire in 2018, but the RCD is planning on restoring the habitat. In addition to cougars, there are other species that have genetic problems and will benefit from connectivity of habitats. For example, wrentits, small native birds, need continuously connected trees to travel and would benefit from restored habitat and at the crossing.

The project has many agencies involved to ensure a crossing that is durable and functional for humans, wildlife, and the landscape. Along with the RCD, lead partners include Caltrans, the National Park Service, the National Wildlife Federation, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Unlike many other communities in the United States where large predators are at odds with farming and ranching operations, the Santa Monica Mountains have little to no agriculture production and the community is largely supportive of the wildcats. A Malibu Times article stated that “in terms of written public comments received, nearly 8,000 residents have expressed support for the project, while only 15 expressed opposition.” The regional relationship with cougars truly is unique—the only other city in the world that has big cats living within city limits is Mumbai.

The Wildlife Crossing at Liberty Canyon project is still in its fundraising phase. For more information, please contact the RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins Animal Advocates Los Angeles California Wildlife Rehabilitation Real Estate

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Friday, March 25, 2022

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Monday, July 15, 2019