A $700,000 Caltrans grant will be used to map heavily fragmented ecosystems and design a region-wide framework to connect them across Southern California. The funding is part of a $23.6 million package in planning grants announced by Caltrans for 58 local projects statewide aimed at enhancing climate resiliency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing natural disaster preparedness.
Regional Wildlife Connectivity Study
The Southern California Association of Governments will utilize its portion of the state funding for the Regional Wildlife Connectivity Study, an ambitious effort to move from a single-project model to a standardized, interconnected network. The study aims to create a systematic, data-driven blueprint covering a massive six-county transportation network, including Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties.
Regional planners emphasize that scaling up is vital to address restricted species movement and public safety risks. Beyond protecting individual animal populations from localized extinction and genetic inbreeding, the study addresses broader climate vulnerabilities. Fragmented habitats diminish Southern California’s natural carbon sequestration potential, a critical issue as the state pushes toward aggressive climate adaptation mandates and its broader State Wildlife Action Plan.
Original reporting: Thousand Oaks Acorn — read the source article.
