#SaveLACougars receives $1 million for wildlife crossing! Help us match it!

Beth Pratt | Last Updated: January 8, 2016

We have some incredible news to announce for the #SaveLACougars campaign! Yesterday, the State of California Coastal Conservancy (SCC) voted unanimously to grant $1 million to help fund the environmental assessment and design for the wildlife crossing at Liberty Canyon.

Board chairman Douglas Bosco spoke about the merits of the crossing. “I think this is a great project. We’ve appropriated a lot of money for fish passage and other wildlife measures. But this is a very unique project.”

NWF’s California Director Beth Pratt presenting at the SCC meeting on the wildlife crossing.

The National Wildlife Federation applied to the SCC on behalf of Caltrans to assist the agency with securing the funding needed to proceed with this vital project. At today’s SCC board meeting, I gave a presentation with Barbara Marquez, of Caltrans, demonstrating the need to reconnect an ecosystem and give mountain lions the room they to roam in the Santa Monica Mountains before their population collapses.

The SCC received dozens of letters in support of the project, and a crowd of #SaveLACougars advocates attended the meeting and testified during the public comment period. In attendance was Kara Steward from Senator Fran Pavley’s office, a longtime champion of the project, Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, and the Mayor of Agoura Hills, Illece Buckley Weber. P22 even made an appearance (in a lifesize cutout), and many of his fans took selfies with the famous cat. When the SCC announced their decision, the room erupted in cheers.

B8i6TxFCYAI8kq-.jpg large — Celebrating with P22–Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, NWF California Director Beth Pratt, and Kara Seward from Senator Fran Pavley’s office.

This is an enormous milestone for our campaign and gets us closer to ensuring a future for mountain lions and other wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains! Our thanks to all of our many partners and to NWF members for your hard work and support!

And we still need your help!

We have a long way to go to reach our goal of being shovel ready by 2018. We’re launching our “match the million” challenge today, with a new automatic text to donate $10 option. Just text “LION” to 25383 and a one-time donation of $10 will be added to your phone bill (see images below for more information).

You can also help by sharing the images below on social media with hashtag #SaveLACougars and post your own personal message to your friends and followers. All posts MUST include one of the images below to follow legal guidelines, so please do not share just text.

Or you can simply share our existing posts on Facebook and Twitter.