Wide bridges that mimic grasslands and tall tunnels of corrugated steel have saved countless wild animals in places where their habitat is bisected by highways and the 3,500-pound vehicles that use them. California's first wildlife crossing, along Tahoe National Forest's Highway 89, lowered the number of animals killed there from 29 in one decade to five in the following seven years. Caltrans and a large group of stakeholders hope to do the same in the Gaviota Pass area of Santa Barbara County.
About 29 people from nonprofits and state and county agencies met on December 2 to discuss the start of a year-long study of a six-mile area from the Nojoqui Grade to Mariposa Reina. Among the stakeholders was Joan Hartmann, supervisor for the county's 3rd District, where the Gaviota Coast is found. She recalled thinking a freeway structure made for wildlife was such a strange thing but said of the meeting: "There really is a science of road ecology, and there really are a whole variety of interventions that work to better protect and guide animals."
An independent scientific consultant unaffiliated with Caltrans was being hired, project planner John Olejnik emphasized, who are experts in wildlife-corridor studies: ICF/Jones & Stokes. "We're paying for it," Olejnik said, of the $327,000 the study will cost Caltrans, "and we'll be really glad to take the results. We'll use that to decide, collectively as a group, how to work together to implement the results."