Speaker 1: Let's say good morning now to the California Regional executive
Speaker 1: director of the National Wildlife Federation, Best Praut, Good morning, Best.
Speaker 2: Good morning Amy. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so we're hitting another big benchmark in the construction
Speaker 1: of the Wallas Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. I call it the
Speaker 1: Annenberg Wallace earlier, but it's a wallace Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
Speaker 1: What's about to start.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really amazing. I've been working on this project
Speaker 2: almost fourteen years and to think we're now just lower
Speaker 2: a year out from completion. So stage one, which is
Speaker 2: over the freeway. That structure's been completed twenty six pounds
Speaker 2: a concrete board and as you know, we have soil
Speaker 2: on top and the plants will go on top of
Speaker 2: that structure fall. But what we're moving towards is extending
Speaker 2: for state. The final stage, extending that structure over the
Speaker 2: Agora Road which runs parallel to the freeway. We have
Speaker 2: to do so we have to underground some utility lines
Speaker 2: which run in between where you know the one on
Speaker 2: one structures and whether your gore structure needs to go,
Speaker 2: and then we will be open for business for a
Speaker 2: wild life next year. It's really exciting to contemplate.
Speaker 1: Open for business. I love that. And this next phase
Speaker 1: of the of the bridge or the overpass, whatever is
Speaker 1: it's a little bit tricky. And I was reading the
Speaker 1: press release it says that going over the two lanes
Speaker 1: is going to be trickier than going over the ten
Speaker 1: lanes of the one on one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know a lot most wildlife crossings are in
Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere, and they build them where it
Speaker 2: is easiest to engineer. This is all. We had sixteen
Speaker 2: hundred feet of protected space left in that entire region
Speaker 2: on that freeway, and it was not an easy site.
Speaker 2: You know, the one oh one structure is kind of
Speaker 2: a straight shot right over the freeway, but this one
Speaker 2: is much trickier. The slope is something that we have
Speaker 2: to move earth and get down so the animals you
Speaker 2: wouldn't be going straight up the hill. But even more importantly,
Speaker 2: there is a creek right there watershed as well as
Speaker 2: many many heritage oaks, and so we need to thread
Speaker 2: and angle that crossing in between those so that we
Speaker 2: maintain the watershed and preserve the oak.
Speaker 1: Got to be careful with the environment. So you've got
Speaker 1: you mentioned that you've got dirt across the ten lane crossing. Now,
Speaker 1: have any animals been kind of sniffing it out? Like, Hey,
Speaker 1: what's that? Could I cross?
Speaker 2: Now? I'm so glad you asked that. I was actually
Speaker 2: up there last week and saw a Western sense lizard,
Speaker 2: and at first I didn't think anything of it. Western
Speaker 2: senselizards are one of the most common animals you see
Speaker 2: in California. But then I'm like, wait a minute, this
Speaker 2: Western census is on top of the crossing, and this
Speaker 2: is remarkable for two reasons. One is a the crossing's
Speaker 2: not connected to the landscape yet. We obviously don't want
Speaker 2: the animals on a bridge to nowhere. So this little guy,
Speaker 2: all the western sensuszs can climb that. You know, I
Speaker 2: had to climb up a significant concret wall to get there.
Speaker 2: It's the only way to access it. But the other
Speaker 2: reason that is significant is we are building this wildlife
Speaker 2: crossing from everything from mountain lines to monarch butterflies, and
Speaker 2: the National Park Service in other people's research, you know,
Speaker 2: showed that mountain lions were genetically fragmenting because of this freeway.
Speaker 2: Their research also showed that Western sense wizards were doing
Speaker 2: the same, So he is another representative of animals impacted
Speaker 2: by this, and hey, that is one small step for
Speaker 2: lizard kind.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, all creatures great and small can use this.
Speaker 1: And then my one last question for you, I think
Speaker 1: we may have talked about this, and I think I said,
Speaker 1: you know, if you build it, they will come. Are
Speaker 1: you going to do anything to attract the animals to
Speaker 1: the crossing or will they just find it on their own?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really good question. I will say that overall,
Speaker 2: animals really seek these crossings out, you know, and word
Speaker 2: really does get out in the animal world, like, hey,
Speaker 2: safe path is this way? There was a fame us
Speaker 2: a video of a badgero and a coyote teaching each
Speaker 2: other how to use an underground culvert. But with decades
Speaker 2: of wildlife crossings, we also know what works to help
Speaker 2: them find it. And one of the biggest things we
Speaker 2: do is what we call exclusionary fencing. There will be
Speaker 2: fencing about two miles on the freeway either way to
Speaker 2: cut off their options and basically we'll lead them right there.
Speaker 1: Okay, perfect, And if all goes according to plan, we're
Speaker 1: still looking at and opening next year and the next
Speaker 1: phase is starting soon. Thanks so much. A best prat
Speaker 1: for giving us an update. I can't wait for this.
Speaker 1: It's been so long in coming here. It's just I bet,
Speaker 1: I bet you guys are working on it day, every day,
Speaker 1: so it's very exciting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to feel good when that first mounta
Speaker 2: line passes.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, Amy, all right, we'll talk to
Speaker 1: you again soon. Thanks Beth,