Highways Taking Toll on Wildlife

By MEG JAMES

Sept. 3, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When a young female mountain lion was killed on the Eastern toll road near Anaheim Hills two weeks ago, it was a hard blow to a dwindling population: She was not only one of the few remaining descendants of the Santa Ana Mountains’ original trailblazers, she was just entering prime reproductive age.

Biologists say fewer than 20 mountain lions prowl the chaparral-covered mountains between Orange and Riverside counties. It may be fewer than a dozen.

That’s why the death of the female, who was 2 to 3 years old and about 90 pounds, has struck such a chord with conservationists and has renewed fears that large wildlife native to Southern California may not survive Orange County’s increasing urbanization.

The mountain lion, discovered on the side of the toll road shortly after daybreak Aug. 19, was at least the third to die in traffic on the road in the past two years. State wildlife officials say one or two more deaths may have gone unreported.

The death of just one mountain lion is a horrible blow, said Paul Beier, a wildlife ecology professor at Northern Arizona University who has studied the population here.

“If you are losing a couple a year, that’s 10% of the entire population,” Beier said Friday. “I don’t know how long they can sustain these kind of losses.”

Seven years ago, Beier conducted a landmark study of mountain lions in the Santa Ana Mountains. He fitted 32 animals with electronic collars and tracked them for five years. Only seven survived. A third of those that died were hit by cars--making traffic the leading cause of mountain lion deaths in the region. Other causes of death included fights with other animals, poor health and being trapped to protect livestock.

“Roads kill. They also promote growth and sprawl,” said Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation based in Sacramento.

Before wildlife officers were notified, the mountain lion killed last month in Orange County was hauled away by county workers who had it stuffed for display at a county park.

“We keep encroaching into the mountain lion’s territory,” said Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Carlsbad. “When you have housing developments crawling right up into the hills in areas that used to be remote, the wildlife keeps getting bounced out. And they have to go to less desirable habitats along these urban interfaces.”

Last week, transportation officials from Orange and Riverside counties discussed building a $3-billion freeway or toll road through the Cleveland National Forest. Riverside County officials say another road is needed to rescue thousands of commuters from the bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to jobs in Orange County, where many can’t afford homes.

Conservationists condemned the notion of a new highway. Said Beier, “That would just be a complete disaster.”

Even without carving a new road through the mountains, some environmentalists worry that the region’s mountain lions might already be doomed, just like the grizzly bears.

“Nobody knows how many are enough to sustain the species,” said Laura Cohen, director of the Rancho Mission Viejo Land Conservancy. “Every open space that is left is very important. There has to be enough space for animals to roam. They have to have movement corridors.”

A male mountain lion needs 150 square miles for its territory, Cohen said. A female needs 80 square miles.

Toll road officials say the Eastern, Foothill and San Joaquin Hills toll roads were “certainly designed to keep animals off the road.” Five under-crossings were built beneath the Eastern toll road to allow deer, bobcats and mountain lions to follow natural migration patterns without venturing onto the highway.

“We did extensive studying before the toll road was constructed to determine wildlife movements, locating places that were best suited for animal crossings,” said Lisa Telles, spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies. “We studied the movements to make sure there was a safe way for animals to be able to cross under the toll road so they could get to their food sources.”

Cameras used for two weeks in May 1999 and November 1999--the first phase of a five-year monitoring program--confirmed that mountain lions, mule deer, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, an owl, a raven and even a house finch used the under-crossings. These preliminary findings showed the under-crossings are working, Telles said.

However, at least 61 coyotes, 52 deer, 12 bobcats and three foxes have been killed on the toll roads and other eastern and south Orange County highways from October 1998, when Caltrans began keeping track of road kill, through July.

Many animal deaths go uncounted. Caltrans road maintenance logs are an incomplete record of wildlife deaths, officials say. Some wounded animals are able to limp off the highway, only to die somewhere else. And other carcasses are pulled from the road and into the brush.

Caltrans road crews simply make a record of animal remains that they remove, Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem said. In fact, Caltrans had no record of the mountain lion killed Aug. 19 because it was county workers who picked up the carcass.

Still, the Caltrans logs do show the Eastern toll road has been the most deadly for wildlife since the road opened in October 1998. And despite signs cautioning drivers, the animals can pose hazards for humans.

Catherine Silva died on May 25, 1999, near dusk, after she swerved to avoid hitting a deer on the Eastern toll road. The 46-year-old Anaheim woman missed the deer but lost control of her car, crashing north of the Windy Ridge station.

Silva’s family filed a lawsuit against the toll road agency earlier this year, contending the agency’s 6-foot fences are too low to discourage deer and other animals from bounding onto the highway. Toll road officials declined to discuss the Silva suit.

During the Eastern toll road’s first seven months of operation, more than $740,000 was spent on fences and mesh paneling reinforcements that Telles said were designed to guide animals to the under-crossings.

Aerial surveys in December showed Orange County’s deer population matches those found in San Diego and San Bernardino counties, said Randy Botta, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish & Game.

“We saw pretty good numbers for the available habitat and the quality of the habitat,” Botta said. “As a whole, Southern California’s deer herds have been stable for the last three or four years.”

The same cannot be said of mountain lions. So far this year, Botta said, five mountain lions have been killed in San Diego County--three hit by cars.

“Every time we have a human-lion interaction, it’s just one more tragic piece of evidence that we are encroaching on their homes,” said Sadler of the Mountain Lion Foundation. “Until we as people get a handle on our land-use planning, then I’m afraid it isn’t going to get any better.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Deer in the Headlights

Drivers have killed twice as many animals on the often-rugged 241 tollroad than on all other Orange County roads combined. Number of wildlife carcasses recovered from October 1998 to July 2000:

(241) Eastern Toll Road

Deer - 39

Coyote - 40

Mtn. Lion - 2

Bobcat - 11

Fox - 2

Total - 94

(73) San Joaquin Hills Toll Road

Deer - 9

Coyote - 14

Fox - 1

Total - 24