States Aim to Boost Safe Passage for Wildlife and Road Safety

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States Aim to Boost Safe Passage for Wildlife and Road Safety

Pronghorn antelope in western Wyoming look to cross a highway during their fall migration. Wildlife-vehicle collisions present a significant threat to public safety and wildlife. From July 2017 to June 2018, more than 1 million collisions occurred in the U.S. between vehicles and deer, elk, moose, and caribou, according to the State Farm insurance company. Photo by Joe Riis
Pronghorn antelope in western Wyoming look to cross a highway during their fall migration. Wildlife-vehicle collisions present a significant threat to public safety and wildlife. From July 2017 to June 2018, more than 1 million collisions occurred in the U.S. between vehicles and deer, elk, moose, and caribou, according to the State Farm insurance company. Photo by Joe Riis

  Published in PewTrust.org, September 16, 2019. 

  

States Aim to Boost Safe Passage for Wildlife While Improving Motorist Safety

Collisions with migrating big game prompt leaders to look for science-based solutions.

 Big-game animals in the American West today are increasingly squeezed by  growing suburban areas, energy development, climate change, and an  expanding road network—factors that are threatening the landscape  connections that wildlife need to move to and from their seasonal  feeding and breeding grounds. Sportsmen, biologists, scientists, and  local communities are warning that unless policymakers identify and  conserve migration corridors, certain wildlife will be at serious risk.  And the public is listening.  A recent poll by the National Wildlife Federation found that “more than 84% of  respondents in Colorado and New Mexico said they would like to see  increased efforts to safeguard wildlife corridors.” 

Science and technology are providing important insights into how wildlife moves across Western landscapes, and state  policymakers are beginning to act on this information in ways that will  help conserve critical wildlife migrations and improve motorist safety  on America’s increasingly busy roads and highways.  The federal  government plays a big role in managing wildlife habitat on public lands  and funds many transportation projects through the Highway Trust Fund,  but states have management responsibility over wildlife and most  highways.  To conserve wildlife corridors while reducing  wildlife-vehicle collisions in the West, state and local governments  need to take the lead on these issues and guide their agencies to  effectively link science with policy.   

Fortunately, this is beginning to happen.  From Montana to New  Mexico, states are identifying hot spots where collisions occur and  linking those areas with the larger habitat conservation needs on either  side of the road.

 Some state wildlife and transportation agencies are changing their  polices to make migration safer for ungulates and other wildlife. For  instance, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission approved a policy in 2017  that directs the state’s Game and Fish Department to designate crucial  big-game migration corridors and draft assessments that look at threats  such as energy development and transportation infrastructure while also  making management recommendations to conserve those areas. The Montana  Transportation Department and Department of Fish and Wildlife and Parks  hosted a public summit that resulted in the two agencies working with  non-governmental organizations to identify and conserve migration areas  and develop a plan for adapting highway infrastructure to enable safe  passage for both wildlife and drivers. 

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