The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is one step closer to its completion with its first official native plants installation along the bridge, according to a report from LAist. The first three plants were installed to honor longtime project supporters, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and late philanthropist Wallis Annenberg.
The next stage will be planting 5,000 more native plants along the bridge, which will reach across all 10 lanes of the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, California. It will create a space nearly one acre in size and will be the largest bridge of its kind in the world.
"This was an impossible dream that started decades ago," Beth Pratt said to LAist. She is the California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation and the leader of the Save LA Cougars campaign. "This is reconnecting the Santa Monica Mountains to the rest of the world — for all wildlife."
The nursery team in charge of the native plant installation spent the last four years gathering more than 1.1 million hyper-local seeds by hand. They were sourced within a five-mile radius of the wildlife crossing and nurtured at a special facility created for this crossing.
Some of the native plants chosen include narrowleaf milkweed to attract butterflies, purple sage to attract hummingbirds, and California aster to provide pollen and nectar to bees.
The plants will be grown from specially engineered soil placed on the bridge last spring. It is partly made up of compost, branches, and leaf litter to mimic the soil on the nearby hills.
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The team of engineers, biologists, scientists, and mycologists designed the soil to help animals and plants of all sizes thrive.
"We're designing all the way from those microbial components all the way up to the apex predator," said Robert Rock, the president of Rock Design Associates, the landscape architecture company overseeing the wildlife crossing.
This project shows the world that it's possible to repair the damage that humans have caused. That we can reconnect with natural habits, prioritize native plants and animals, and give back more to the land that we take from every day.
This wildlife crossing will also restore any holes in the local food chain and protect pollinators in the area, similar to the impact that the Bow Valley Gap Wildlife Gap Overpass has already had in Alberta, Canada.
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The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
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