Wildlife corridor helps humans, animals coexist




Linda Parks

Linda Parks

On average, one mountain lion living in the Santa Monica Mountains is killed by a vehicle each year. The inability to travel safely between interconnected ranges is a major reason the average local puma only lives to be 3 years old—just a third of the species’ natural lifespan.

The good news is, there’s something we can do to reverse this trend.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors is moving on a first-of-its-kind wildlife corridor zoning aimed at keeping the open space corridors between the mountains traversable by wildlife. This is all the more necessary now that the mountains have burned, leaving wildlife with little remaining habitat. The proposed wildlife corridor zoning is based on the South Coast Missing Linkages report that was produced by a consortium of resource agencies and conservancies, including the National Park Service, the California State Parks and the Nature Conservancy, that identified the corridors that are used by wildlife.

The major wildlife corridor that connects the Santa Monica Mountains to inland mountains through the Tierra Rejada Valley and the Simi Hills is particularly threatened, despite efforts to build bridges and tunnels for animal crossings. This is because there is currently no consideration given to the wildlife corridor in the building permit process.

Each year more of the wildlife corridor is being narrowed and blocked off with new structures. More fences, roads and buildings are being built, causing wildlife to disperse into residential areas, inbreed or be hit by cars.

If passed, the zoning will protect creeks, reduce night lighting, specify fencing type for new fences and, in critical corridor areas, require new buildings to be clustered away from the most threatened part of the corridor so wildlife can still travel through the open space.

Fences for agricultural crops would be exempted from the new rules, and allowances would be made for fences and lights to keep homes secure and to light sidewalks, driveways and night businesses, but not the night sky. The zoning would also help channel wildlife away from roads and toward structures that allow animals to cross human-made barriers safely, such as culverts, bridges and underpasses.

Currently, there is no bigpicture plan to allow for development that keeps the survival of mountain lions and other threatened species in mind. Instead, what we have is a project-byproject approach that analyzes the impacts building has on its piece of the environment.

The proposed approach is superior because it:

Provides linkages, not barriers to movement, in wildlife corridors.

Allows development that is compatible with wildlife.

Reduces unwanted interactions (e.g. automobile collisions).

Preserves the survival of wildlife in our open spaces.

We have worked hard in Ventura County to protect open space lands; now we must complete that work by protecting the beasts that inhabit them.

Parks is a five-term Ventura County supervisor representing District 2.