Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing Year One Impact Report

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!

• When: Saturday, November 9, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
• Doors open at 12:30 PM*

*Come early to interact with our partner booths, purchase refreshments and exclusive Land Trust merchandise, and connect with our staff!

• Date: Saturday, November 9, 1-3pm (doors open at 12:30pm)
• Where: Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz 95062
• Parking: We encourage ride-sharing, biking or public transportation for this event. Free street parking is available near the Rio Theatre (please pay attention to street signs and colored curbs).
• This event will take place indoors. No dogs are allowed.
• Refreshments and exclusive Land Trust merchandise will be available for purchase.
• All updates about the event will be communicated via email. Please register to attend.

Land Trust members know Santa Cruz County is where the wild things are! A donation to the Land Trust directly supports our work to improve wildlife connectivity, preserve and protect farmland, and build new trails that connect our community to Santa Cruz's wild spaces—and makes you a Land Trust member! Together, we are improving wildlife connectivity from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range by protecting habitats and building wildlife crossings. We’re restoring flood-prone farmland back to wild wetland habitat. And we’re building trails that connect our community to Santa Cruz's wild spaces.

A gift of any size makes a difference! Let's work together to preserve our outdoor spaces for all wild things, big or small! Make a gift to support our county’s wild things.

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.

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.

Please contact Events Manager, Audrelina Mendiola-Arriola at [email protected] or (831) 281-0386.

By attending this event, I hereby grant Land Trust of Santa Cruz County permission to use my likeness in photograph(s) in any publications or publicity materials (including but not limited to books, newsletters, videos and Web use), in perpetuity. Please email [email protected] if you have questions or concerns about photo permissions.

Host or Publisher Land Trust of Santa Cruz County