Rim of the Valley Wildlife Corridors: Calabasas Hills via US Highway 101 (Liberty Canyon)

The Liberty Canyon study area is a long section of the 101 freeway that winds through the hills of Calabasas and Agoura Hills. Throughout the study area there are several underpasses that could possibly be used by wildlife and indeed some of them are but the threat of the freeway is compounded by Agoura Road which runs the length of the freeway from Westlake Village to the Calabasas Grade and presents a secondary obstacle that wildlife must overcome. The Freeway averages eight lanes wide with Agoura road as only two lanes in the study area. Grimly, the study area is the sight of several fatalities involving the North American Cougar or Mountain Lion with automobiles. Consequently, public awareness in this study area is the highest of any of our study sites in the Rim of the Valley Conservation Area with multiple news articles on the fatal accidents as well as a community sponsored program to develop a wildlife crossing near the Liberty Canyon Overpass (See: News Articles). Given the steps already developed for us, we used this area as a control for our study procedures to see if the data we were developing corresponded with the actual wildlife corridor being implemented. The region itself is comprised of fossilized sand dunes represented in the steep, but gently rolling hillsides with heavily grassed southern exposures and patchy oak woodland on the northern exposures. Also of note are several major riparian zones along streambeds with healthy oak and sycamore forests represented.