Bay Area group helps wild animals adjust to climate change

Bay Area conservationists are combining state of the art technology and old fashioned elbow grease to help wild animals adapt to climate change. The project is happening about 30 miles south of San Jose, in a valley between Gilroy and Hollister, where a critical habitat is being brought back to life.

A howling coyote pup and a mountain lion are just a couple of the creatures facing a serious challenge as their environment warms up. All these images are from motion activated cameras, showing large mammals at the lower edges of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Mount Hamilton range.

"Climate change is making it much more important for animals to be able to move from one place to another because the habitat in their original places is changing," said Nature Conservancy Scientist Sasha Gennet. "It's getting hotter and drier. They need to be moving up into cooler areas and finding cover and food and water."

The animals used to travel across a valley south of Gilroy to move between mountains. But most of the trees and bushes that provided food and shelter there are gone.

"They're having a really hard time getting across," said Gennet.

So now, school kids are helping create a wooded passageway through the valley.

"Planting trees and shrubs trees along the historic channel of the Pajaro River," Gennet said.

Video provided by the Nature Conservancy shows the kids digging to help create the passageway. The Nature Conservancy is part of a team of non-profit groups working on the restoration. The children are from Bradley School in Corralitos.

The long curvy line of trees, shown in a photo, is a natural passageway that already exists through part of the valley.

This project will fill in the gaps so animals can make it all the way across.

"This is snow berry," Gennet said. "There's valley oak right in that cage. And this is a sycamore that's doing great and we've already seen birds perching on it.

The team is putting in many types of native plants that will be monitored over time, so information from this project can be used on other restorations.

And that's where a wild looking thing called the "Goggle Trekker" comes in.

While wearing it, climate scientist Kirk Klausmeyer walks the route that will eventually be filled with plants.

The ball at the top contains 15 cameras that take pictures at the same time to produce a 360 degree view.

"There is also a GPS unit on top," Klausmeyer said. "And that is tracking my exact location."

It will take several weeks to process the trekker data.

The final product will be a 360 degree view of the trail similar to one done in Marin County.

They'll take new images every year to track the progress of the plants.

But scientists won't have to wait that long to know they're already making a difference for wildlife eager to start moving through the valley.

One of the first things the team did was to get rid of a fence that blocked a culvert under a road.

And even before the whole fence was removed, the animals went into action.

"A little bobcat poked his head through and came straight through the culvert," Gennet said. "And after that, other animals started crossing back and forth too. So it was really impressive to us how these little actions can make such a big difference."

The project will cost about $250,000. It's a big price tag because this is a demonstration project with lots of research. But once it's done, scientists say it will be a lot cheaper to recreate this project in other places. Most of the funding is from private donations.

To make a donation to the Nature Conservancy, click here.

To learn more about the project, click here.

Written and produced by Jennifer Olney.