Monday was important for crossing the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife, although it still looked on a bridge to nowhere from the 101 Highway, where over 300,000 vehicles were flowing endlessly every day.
Nearly three years after the start of the project, the critical stage was evident only for government officials, scientists and longtime supporters who climbed to the top: the soil.
And not just each soil. Over the next few days, they will add 6000 cubic yards specially produced soil to cover the intersection, a mixture of sand, silt and clay, inoculated with a little compost and hyperlocal mycorises, carefully designed and tested to mimic the biological composition of local soils around the site.
The plan is to add 6,000 cubic yards soil, contour at different depths, to the top of the intersection of Wilis Anenberg’s wildlife. (Al Seib / for times)
Adding the soil is a big deal because it means that we are approaching the end of Stage 1 when the upper part is sown and then planted with local shrubs and permanent crops, a work that is due to be completed this summer, said Robert Rock, CEO -based Rock Design and Landscape Coins.
But we are still the ways of graduation, now scheduled for the end of 2026, about a year later than originally planned due to a delay in heavy rains in 2022 and 2023.
Stage 2, the last phase, will connect the structure to the hills to the north and south, so that the wildlife, such as the famous, unfortunate Puma of LA, P-22, can use it. This stage will begin with the burial of communal lines along a section of the Agura road, south of the intersection, and moving water lines for recycled water used for irrigation.
Read more: Rescue the next P-22 begins with a million “hyperlocal” seeds and a nursery with bare bones
At the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026, the Aguura road will be closed for several months so that the roadway is covered with a tunnel and a lot of soil collected from the area of Lake Malibu. The aim is to create natural slopes from the intersection – an additional 12 acres of space that will be planted with local shrubs, permanent plantations, grasses and trees to make the intersection as much as possible with the surrounding hills.
Beth Pratt, left, Regional CEO of California of the National Federation of Wildlife, Penny Sylvester, Middle, Mayor of Aguura Hills, and Jeremy Wolf, on the right, Mayor of Aguura Hills Pro Tem, as they throw the first soil on the top of the wise intersection of the Wildlife intersection of the intersection. (Al Seib / for times)
“In principle, they are restoring the mountain to what it has ever been, so the wildlife will not even know that they are crossing the highway,” says Jeremy Wolf, Mayor Pro Tem of Agra Hills, who was among several government officials, scientists and long -standing defenders who came to celebrate the arrival at least.
“People created this problem,” Wolf said in an interview. “We have created fragmentation of habitat islands with our lanes and dwellings that invade deeper and deeper into the wild urban interface. Now we solve this problem using human ingenuity for good purposes.”
Beth Pratt, Regional CEO of California of the National Federation of Wildlife, to the right, shows his P-22 Cougar sweater in a celebration with Robert Rock, a landscape architect who controls the construction of the Wallis Annerbg WildLife intersection as the soil finally begins to flow on the intersection. (Al Seib / for times)
Along the way there was a lot of ingenuity and innovation and a lot of attention to details. For example, even before construction began in 2022, the project built a nursery and sends gardeners to collect the hills around the site to collect about 1 million seeds from about 30 local plant species. These seeds were planted and were fed in pots with 1 gallon.
Mycologists (biologists who study fungi) have collected useful mycorriot fungi and other germs from the area to inoculate the soil used to grow plants and cover the tip of the structure.
They also tested which local seeds they interacted best with these fungi and chose four to sow as a roof culture before adding plants to help a “jump” useful growth of fungi in the soil, which helps the plants to have access to the nutrients and water they need. These seeds will be sown later this month, Rock said: Gold Yarow (Eriophyllum Confertiflorum)California Mac (Eschscholzia Californica))., giant Dairi (Eli Condensed) and Vetch Milk Milk (Santa Barbara (Astragalus Trichopodus)who supports more than 20 butterflies, including the endangered blue butterfly Palos Verdes.
Media members, scientists, government officials and longtime supporters invaded a muddy slope from Aguura Road to 101 highways so that they could climb to the top of Wildlife’s Wildlife Slice. (Al Seib / for times)
It took almost a year of preparation to prepare the top for the soil by constructing thick walls 12 feet in height to minimize noise and visibility of traffic and to add a special drainage system to ensure that the water does not accumulate on the structure, as a widespread lining and then from 9 to 30 inches from the cars of cars Most local plants are not like wet feet.
Meanwhile, the soil is mixed and “ripe” on the spot in the canyon of Lopez north of Pachema, where it was analyzed and corrected to ensure that pH levels and compounds are balanced. Rock said their final mixture had slightly elevated chlorine levels, so they had to water it deeply to help dilute and flush this excess chemical compound.
Fran Pavli, a former member of the State Assembly and Senator, was the first mayor of Aguura Hills, when the city joined in 1982 and it struggled to preserve the land under the two sides of the Wildlife intersection of Wallis Annberg, more than 40 years before the project. (Al Seib / for times)
On Monday, a small army of supporters and the media climbed to the top of the structure to witness the spread of the soil. Visitors included the former State Senator and Assembly member Fran Pavli, the first mayor of Aguura Hills after the city joined in 1982 to hold the wild areas open on both sides of 101 highways for some kind of wildlife; Wildlife Biologists Miguel Ordenna (who discovered the P-22), Jeff Sikic and Seth Riley, who have long traced and explore mountain lions and other wildlife in Mountain Santa Monica, and Beth Pratt, the Regional CEO of the National Federation for 9
View of cars that drive under the intersection of wildlife. (Al Seib / for times)
Shortly before 8 am, a narrow conveyor unit began to pull the soil from the north side of the highway up from 60 feet to the top, where it spread around the structure with compact track loaders, essentially small earth engines, which use tracks instead of wheels to minimize soil sealing.
The peak of the structure is 174 feet wide – a width than a football field. If the soil spreads evenly, it would be about 18 inches deep, Rock said, but the goal is to imitate the adjacent hills so that the soil is contro with a depth of 1 to 4 feet, with several pockets of small sand stones. The next month or around several large volcanic rocks will also be tucked to the top to match the geology of the region, which includes a small strip of volcanic rock.
These holes are where the volcanic rock will be placed later. (Al Seib / for times)
Once the seeds have a chance to grow and fill the soil, mature local shrubs and perennial plants will be planted, probably in mid -May, Rock said. These plants grown from locally collected seeds include black sage, white sage and purple sage, buckwheat from California, buckwheat with long stems and buckwheat on ash leaves, wild grapes; Sunflower of dairy algae with narrowists, California sunflower; deer; Penstemon appeared, hean, Laurel Sumak and Cinotus.
Read more: 15 best local plants to grow in your yard if you want and aromatic bouquets
They will also keep an eye on invasives that could push the recently planted local plants, aggressive plants like black mustard, which is already emerging violently along the southern border of the corridor. Black mustard grows rapidly and will soon send seeds that could easily invade the pristine soil on the structure.
But on this issue, the builders of the world’s largest wildlife corridor are in the same boat as gardeners everywhere. “I will just have to knit it to [native] The plants are established, ”he said. “The sad reality is that there is very little more we can do.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.