While waste and California go together like peanut butter and jelly, even this latest example will blow your mind.
City Journal’s Chris Rufo broke an explosive story on Wednesday, revealing how Gavin Newsom’s California somehow spent $114 million on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (WAWC) over the course of four years. The crossing features an overpass for animals atop ten lanes of the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills.
The stated goal of the project was to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by providing safe passage to the animals. The species that were supposed to benefit included the endangered cougars in the area and the monarch butterflies.
During a ceremony announcing the project, Newsom boasted that the state would provide $54 million in funding to complete the crossing. It was supposed to cost $92 million in total, with the remaining funding from private philanthropists.
Officials projected the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing would open in 2025, but now it is over $20 million over budget with no finish in sight. And you can thank good old-fashioned political corruption for it, along with the person in charge of the project, a loony cougar-sweater-wearing ‘environmentalist’ named Beth Pratt, who serves on WAWC’s Partner Leadership Team.
From City Journal:
Why has a project primarily consisting of a bridge for animals cost over $100 million? One reason is that Newsom and WAWC’s philanthropic supporters apparently don’t mind it becoming a patronage program. As the WAWC-endorsing Wildlife Crossing Fund notes, citing the California Department of Transportation’s estimate, “for every $1 billion spent” on wildlife crossings, “13,000 jobs are created.”
Some of these jobs are absurd. The National Wildlife Federation’s WAWC website claims that “[o]ur Native Plant Nursery”—apparently funded by the nonprofit SAMO Fund and other “partners”—“has prioritized hiring Indigenous team members to help steward the plants that will vegetate the bridge.” The nursery’s co-manager said she makes an “offering” after collecting seeds, sometimes including pieces of her hair.
Or consider the ways one of the nursery workers and her associates have spent their time. The nursery’s founding manager worked with “helpers and volunteers” to “seed scout[]” across the Santa Monica Mountains. Her associates on the “design team” received “feedback from all the various project partners”—including state and federal bureaucrats—for their plant list.
A group of experts apparently adds to the operation’s expense. A fungi whiz, Pratt says, worked as a WAWC habitat designer, periodically scrutinizing root samples under a microscope. A contracted soil scientist said his process involves assessing local dirt to “rebuild it . . . as close to nature as possible.”
Pratt, who serves on WAWC’s Partner Leadership Team, does not think the cost or budget overruns are too big a deal.
“There’s no boondoggle given the times we’re living in,” she said in a Facebook video back in January.
She also blamed President Trump, citing his tariffs and inflation.
WATCH:
Beth Pratt is the left-wing activist in charge of building Gavin Newsom’s $114 million cougar and butterfly bridge. She’s turned the bridge into a boondoggle, and now blames Trump for blown deadlines and increased costs. Her bio does not note any previous construction experience. pic.twitter.com/eepoIW4vhd
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) March 18, 2026
When she saw Rufo’s piece on Wednesday, Pratt came up with a new excuse, blaming the weather and “unprecedented biodiversity collapse.”
Yes, really.
BREAKING: @BethPratt, the woman responsible for California’s $114 million animal bridge boondoggle, has responded to our investigation with a rambling Facebook post blaming the weather and “unprecedented biodiversity collapse.”
This is what happens when you put crazy in charge. pic.twitter.com/tGK4C8jyh0
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@christopherrufo) March 18, 2026
For real answers, she should look in the mirror and at her governor.
