Safe passage for Valley’s wild animals

Cameras placed underneath bridges within the Sonoma Valley Wildlife Corridor over the past year have captured foxes, opossum, raccoons, deer, mountain lions – “everything we expected to see when we speculated that the bridges were providing safe passage for animals crossing the busy roads bisecting the corridor,” according to Sheri Cardo of the Sonoma Land Trust.

In 2013, the nonprofit began a multi-year study to determine whether mobile wild animals are able to move freely through the designated corridor. A total of 2,986 animal detections were recorded at all camera sites throughout the recent 12-month monitoring period, with the most active camera sites at: South Sonoma Creek on the west side; Stuart Creek on the west side; South Sonoma Creek on the east side; and Hooker Creek on the west side.

Deer and gray fox were the most frequently photo-captured species, but most species expected to be in the region were found to use the underpasses to some degree. See more report details at Sonomalandtrust.org