Room to roam: California Assembly passes landmark bill to improve wildlife connectivity
The legislation would help ensure that the state’s wildlife can move across the landscape to find food, shelter, and potential mates.
The California Assembly has passed a first-of-its-kind bill that will improve wildlife connectivity across the state to help animals move freely across the landscape.
The Room to Roam Act (A.B. 1889) would require local governments to consider and implement measures to protect wildlife connectivity as part of their general plan.
Wildlife connectivity planning will help ensure that wildlife can move across the landscape in order to find food, shelter and unrelated mates. These elements could include wildlife-friendly fencing, lighting, and other ways to promote wildlife movement.
Legislation like the Room to Roam Act aims to protect California’s wildlife, which is at risk from habitat degradation and fragmentation as a result of ever-growing land development.
According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which supports the legislation, continued development without consideration of connected landscapes could jeopardize California’s biodiversity.
The Fund points to the example of infrastructure and development in Southern California and the Central Coast which has isolated mountain lion populations and led to inbreeding. Scientists have warned that the mountain lion populations in the Santa Ana and Santa Monica mountains could become extinct if connectivity is not improved.
Another supporter of the bill, the Center for Biological Diversity, also highlights other wildlife which has been impacted by a fractured landscape, including desert tortoises and California red-legged frogs, the state amphibian.
“We’re lucky to have protected landscapes in California but animals are suffering as their homes are sliced up by poorly planned development,” said J.P. Rose, Urban Wildlands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If cities factor in the needs of our wild neighbors when making land-use decisions, it’ll make a world of difference for struggling animals unable to roam.”
Authored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman, the bill will also take action by adapting existing landscapes that are facing environmental extremes due to climate change, such as increases in wildfires and drought.
The bill builds upon existing legislation that already helps wildlife connectivity in the state, including the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act. That act requires Caltrans, which manages 50,000 miles of Calirdoania’s highway and freeway lanes, to prioritize wildlife crossing structures when improving or building roads.
“The Room to Roam Act ensures that essential planning at the local level works to harmonize our landscapes with community and wildlife needs,” said Mari Galloway, California director at the Wildlands Network. “By considering wildlife needs at the outset, general plans align with conservation investments to promote biodiversity and climate-resilient landscapes.”
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