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Land Trust Santa Cruz County: HWY 17 Wildlife Crossing First Year Impacts
The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County is thrilled by the amazing support our local community (and beyond!) has shown for the Highway 17 wildlife crossing! YOU have been key to the crossing’s success. The first year of data is in and we’re excited to share who has been using the tunnel, what we’ve learned and give you a peek at what’s next.
Featuring expert ecologists and researchers, Tanya Diamond and Ahíga Snyder from Pathways for Wildlife, with an introduction by Chris Wilmers PhD from the Santa Cruz Puma Project, the Land Trust will be sharing year one findings and lots of exciting footage of wildlife using the Highway 17 crossing.
We hope you can join us for this fun and informative event!
The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Th Land Trust protects, cares for, and connects all people to the vibrant natural and working lands that are essential for our community and nature to thrive together for generations to come. We see a future in which the amazing diversity of lands that define and connect us to the Santa Cruz County region — the wild and working forests, the globally unique wildlife habitats, the coastal landscape, and our rich farming and ranching heritage — are cared for and preserved forever.
Pathways for Wildlife
Pathways for Wildlife is a research organization developed by Wildlife Ecologist Tanya Diamond and Wildlife Researcher Ahíga Snyder. Tanya and Ahíga work with land trusts, conservation organizations, and transportation agencies to help identify important wildlife and habitat linkages by conducting wildlife connectivity surveys and implementing connectivity designs for wildlife movement within a landscape. The information used to develop wildlife connectivity plans includes data from field cameras, roadkill surveys, tracking data, GIS habitat suitability modeling, and linkage analyses. Pathways for Wildlife was a critical partner in building the scientific case for the Highway 17 crossing, and the Land Trust is grateful to have their expertise in monitoring wildlife engagement with the completed crossing.
Santa Cruz Puma Project
The Santa Cruz Puma Project is a partnership between UC Santa Cruz and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Their work involves deploying telemetry collars on mountain lions that collect continuous movement and location data from each animal. By studying and analyzing data collected from these collars, Chris Wilmers PhD and his team hope to answer important physiological and ecological questions that have so far evaded science. In addition to providing solutions to pressing environmental problems, the research project will further enhance the understanding of cougar habitat requirements as well as provide guidance on important movement corridors for lions within and between the Santa Cruz Mountains located in the central coast of California. The Puma Project’s partnership and collar data played a vital role in selecting the location for the HWY 17 crossing.
Chris Wilmers recently joined the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County board and has also contributed to land protection and management efforts for parks and open space in and around the Santa Cruz Mountains through his engagement in various capacities with the Trust for Public Lands, Wildlife Conservation Network, Peninsula Open Space Trust, Sempervirens Fund, the Bureau of Land Management, Caltrans, and other NGOs.
Show time: 1:00 PM, doors 12:00 PM
Tickets: FREE
Advance tickets: www.eventbrite.com
Event website: landtrustsantacruz.org
Event website: www.pfwildlife.com
