|
Dr. Willard
H. (Bill) Wattenburg
SAVE THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAIN LIONS
They
are trapped in a small 275 sq mile area surrounded by
freeways that block their access to open areas north of LA (see
story below)
The Santa Monica Mountains Natural Resource Area wants to build
crossings (10 million dollars of your money) over the
LA freeways to save the few mountain lions trapped there and
dying.
They can build high crossings for one-tenth the cost using
the “Modular Steel Freeway Bridge” designed by
Bill Wattenburg and used by CALTRANS to open the I-5 freeway in
1995 to full four lanes of traffic after twin bridges at Colinga were
washed out by flood waters (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/268/5208/279.abstract?sid=ada91722-d93d-442d-87d2-e02c6e70f813).
This inexpensive modular bridge can be installed in a few days’
time. It uses surplus railroad flatcar decks as the components of
the bridge. Our nation’s top scientific laboratory (and
CALTRANS field tests) proved that it is actually stronger against
earthquake collapse than standard concrete and
steel freeway bridges and crossings (see reference 1
below).
In this case, the mountain lion (and people in the
daytime) crossings do not even have to carry vehicles
(even though the flat car bridge can carry more load than a
standard concrete bridge). A single-lane bridge is more
than adequate for animal crossings. But, most likely, they
will spend the $10 million if they can get it from
Washington (and your pockets) – while 2 million people are out of
work in the LA area.
1. "A Modular Steel Freeway Bridge: Design Concept and Earthquake Resistance,”
Science, v268, pp. 261-262, 279-281, 14 April 1995;
Science, v 264, p 27, 1 April 1994.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/268/5208/279.abstract?sid=ada91722-d93d-442d-87d2-e02c6e70f813
The story on AOL:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/01/santa-monica-mountains-li_n_990572.html
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ 10/ 1/11 11:31 AM ET AP
LOS ANGELES -- Morning commuters in Los Angeles were likely startled,
if not downright terrified, when a young mountain lion recently strode
onto Interstate 405 and was killed by oncoming traffic.
But biologists who have spent a decade studying the lions living in the
nearby Santa Monica Mountains say the cat was simply searching for a
home. While mountain lion populations are healthy across California,
the situation is becoming increasingly desperate for the isolated
population in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Lions need as many as 100 square mile each as territories, but the
estimated 10 cats in this 275-square mile mountain range are hemmed in
by network of freeways, suburbs and the Pacific Ocean.
Without an easier way to connect to the state's larger mountain lion
population, biologists say those that live amid the urban sprawl of the
nation's second largest city will go extinct from inbreeding.
"It's a very unique situation," said Tim Dunbar, the executive director
for the Mountain Lion Foundation. "Usually our urban centers radiate
out so there are mountain lions along the edges. What happened in this
case is they've sort of been ringed in."
In 2002, the National Park Service decided to study this rare group of
urban lions to get a better understanding of how the cougars navigate
living in such a setting. Since then scientists have trapped and radio
collared 21 lions, allowing biologists to monitor their movements,
their feeding, even their attempts to breed.
Mountain lions are one of the most widespread carnivores in the world
with a historical range from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Chile. They
are still found widely across the West and Southwest and even in south
Florida
The straw-colored cats are solitary and elusive animals. And despite
living against an urban setting, biologists say they were surprised to
discover the LA lions still behave as if in the wild, feeding largely
on mule deer. Male lions can be as long as 9 feet from head to tail and
weigh 220 pounds and both sexes need a lot of territory. Male lions
spend their days roaming for food, for females with which to mate and
for trespasser lions to kill.
Of the group of 21 lions that have been collared over the years in the
Santa Monica Mountains few have survived. Only one male is known to
have come from the outside, from the Simi Hills across the 101 freeway
into the Santa Monicas, this in 2009, bringing fresh genes with him.
Biologists estimate there are currently about 10 of the big cats in the
encircled zone.
Jeff Sikich, an ecologist with the National Park Service who has been
studying the lions, called the situation "dire." Numerous local, state,
federal and non-profit organizations are working to identify areas to
build wildlife crossings to help the lions get across freeways to open
space north of Los Angeles but it will likely be years before they're
complete.
"There's really nowhere for them to go," Sikich said. "They're almost trapped in this island of habitat."
Weaker lions can be killed by those more dominant when they can't get
out. In one case, the male responsible for a litter of four killed
three of his offspring when they were unable to find their own
territory.
Others died from eating smaller animals contaminated with rat poison
or, like the 15-month-old lion killed on the freeway recently, died
trying to leave the mountain range. Many of the Santa Monica lions died
trying to cross highways.
"They're coming up to the freeway, turning around and going into
residential areas, turning around and are taken to the extreme edges of
our mountains and eventually the adult male will find them and kill
them," Sikich said. "Mountain lions are solitary animals and a male
lion will constantly defend its territory."
In the hopes of preventing the group's extinction and for public safety
reasons, the California Department of Transportation has been working
with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Park Service on
finding wildlife crossing sites along the freeways. Such passage would
allow wildlife to move safely from the Santa Monica Mountains to open
space in the Santa Susana Mountains and Los Padres National Forest.
Experts say the radio collars have shown them where the lions are most
likely to try and cross the freeways and while signage isn't an option
with animals, biologists say the lions are adept at finding crossings
once they are in place.
The agency has applied for a multi-million dollar federal grant to pay
for a $9.4 million project for fencing and a 13 foot by 13 foot tunnel
under 101. Since wildlife typically crosses at night, the underpass
would also be available for hikers and pedestrians during the day, said
Barbara Marquez, senior environmental planner at Caltrans
Still, even if the project is funded, it will take years and the lions
would still face two other freeways before getting to the rocky
expanses of the Los Padres National Forest.
Officials are also looking into installing fencing near the site of the
accident on the 405 to herd wildlife toward safer crossings as well as
widening a bridge to include a protected area for wildlife.
"This is something that needs to happen," said Christy Brigham, chief
of planning, science and resource management with the Santa Monica
Mountains National Resource Area. "There's absolutely no question that
if we don't maintain the connectivity between the Santa Monica
Mountains and the rest of undeveloped Southern California and the state
as a whole, the mountain lions will go extinct in the Santa Monicas."
|
|