Maps Reveal Bay Area Wildlife Movement Corridors

Conservation Science Partners released new habitat connectivity maps covering the 11-county Bay Area region.

Updated on Nov. 15, 2026 in Wildlife

Isometric editorial illustration of a green hillside corridor squeezed between blocky development and roadways, evoking fragmented wildlife habitat. — Conservation Science Partners released new habitat connectivity maps showing where Bay Area wildlife live and move, including a severe bottleneck at Coyote Valley in the South Bay. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Conservation Science Partners has released new maps showing where wildlife in the 11-county Bay Area are likely to live and move across the human-dominated landscape. The maps were built using novel modeling tools and highlight areas where development fractures habitat.

Why it matters

Poorly planned areas without wildlife connectivity infrastructure fracture habitats and threaten the survival of imperiled animals. Constrained movement can keep animals from finding food and shelter, avoiding inbreeding, or adapting to climate change, making the maps a tool for planning California's landscape.

The maps are modeling outputs rather than field-tracking data, covering the 11-county Bay Area region. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which spans 10 lanes of Highway 101 and 2 lanes of Agoura Road, is not yet open, and the source does not say how the modeled routes will be validated.

The players

Conservation Science Partners

Conservation Science Partners is a conservation science organization that produced the Bay Area habitat connectivity maps using novel modeling tools.

Center for Biological Diversity

The Center for Biological Diversity is a conservation advocacy group with more than 2 million members and online activists that co-sponsored the Room to Roam Act.

The details

The maps show likely wildlife habitat and movement across the Bay Area, and highlight Coyote Valley in the South Bay, a maze of development, agricultural fields and roadways that severely limits mountain lion and other wildlife movement. The release comes as the Center for Biological Diversity points to the Room to Roam Act, which it co-sponsored in 2024.

Nov. 15, 2026: Conservation Science Partners releases the Bay Area connectivity maps.
December 2026: The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is set to open in Los Angeles County.
Jan. 1, 2028: Room to Roam Act requires cities and counties to incorporate wildlife connectivity in general plans.

Roadmap

The Room to Roam Act, co-sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2024, requires cities and counties to build wildlife connectivity into their general plans beginning Jan. 1, 2028. These Bay Area maps arrive as a planning input for that requirement, and the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Los Angeles County is a physical example of the same goal.

Residents in the Bay Area and across California may see wildlife connectivity factored into local general plans as cities and counties prepare for the Room to Roam Act's 2028 deadline. The modeling maps are a planning tool, so their practical effect will depend on how local governments use them.

The takeaway

Habitat connectivity planning is shifting from theory to required practice in California, and local decisions made now will shape whether mountain lions and other wildlife can move safely through developed areas. Residents interested in these changes can follow how their own city and county address wildlife corridors in their general plans.