Animal bridges

UngulateNerd92 said:
Oregon Wildlife Crossings Bill Aims to Reduce Potentially Deadly Collisions

A measure in the Oregon Legislature aims to reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife.

House Bill 4130 would allocate $5 million for wildlife crossings in problem spots across the state. In Oregon, there are about 7,000 collisions with deer each year, costing Oregonians $44 million in total.

State Rep. Ken Helm, D-Beaverton, a chief sponsor of the bill, said there's broad support for wildlife crossings, including some Republican co-sponsors.

"These types of projects are not partisan," he said. "We've got Republicans and Democrats, senators and House reps on the bill already. It'll be a great bipartisan, bicameral effort and very popular. So, the enthusiasm is certainly there in this state."

OR Wildlife Crossings Bill Aims to Reduce Potentially Deadly Collisions
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Here is another relevant article.

Oregon Legislature Designates $7 Million for Wildlife Crossings

“This is a huge step towards increasing habitat connectivity for Oregon’s wildlife like wolves, elk, mule deer and many other species that travel long distances and cross dangerous highways in search of food, territory, mates and as they adapt to climate change. It is encouraging to see the legislature prioritizing both human and wildlife safety with this crucial funding."

- Sristi Kamal, Senior Northwest Representative for Defenders of Wildlife

In a first for the state of Oregon, state policymakers approved $7 million in funding for building and maintaining wildlife crossings in the state.

According to recent polling conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts, 86% of Oregonians from across the political and geographic spectrum support constructing more wildlife crossings on our roads and highways.

Oregon Legislature Designates $7 Million for Wildlife Crossings
 
Province begins building $17-million wildlife overpass near Canmore

The project was hastened by an incident in April 2019 where a semi-truck collided with a herd of elk, killing seven elk.

The province broke ground Thursday for a long-awaited wildlife overpass on the Trans-Canada Highway that is expected to improve safety for travellers and animals in the Bow Valley.

Province begins building $17-million wildlife overpass near Canmore | Calgary Herald
 
World’s Biggest Wildlife Crossing Breaks Ground on Earth Day

A landmark Earth Day ceremony just took place to celebrate the start of construction on the historic Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Southern California.

Spanning over ten lanes of the 101 freeway in the Los Angeles area, when complete the crossing will be the largest in the world, the first of its kind in California, and a global model for urban wildlife conservation.

“California’s diverse array of native species and ecosystems have earned the state recognition as a global biodiversity hotspot. In the face of extreme climate impacts, it’s more important than ever that we work together to protect our rich natural heritage” said said California Governor Gavin Newsom of the project. Stating that the crossing will enable mountain lions and other wildlife to roam safely, he described the crossing as “an inspiring example of the kind of collaborative efforts that will help us protect our common home for generations to come.”

World’s Biggest Wildlife Crossing Breaks Ground on Earth Day
 
Colorado’s newest wildlife overpass and underpass provide safe passage for wildlife and motorists

Mitigation features on U.S. Highway 160 in southwest Colorado could reduce wildlife-vehicle crashes by 80-90%

The Colorado Department of Transportation recently completed the state’s newest wildlife overpass and underpass on U.S. Highway 160 between Durango and Pagosa Springs in southwest Colorado. The wildlife mitigation project will enhance safety for this section of the highway by promoting safer travel for motorists, enhancing the safer movement of wildlife, and reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions.

Last week CDOT hosted a ribbon-cutting celebration atop the wildlife arch over the highway. The event highlighted the benefits of the project and recognized the partnerships among government agencies, public organizations, nonprofit groups, and private individuals that made the project possible.

“This crossing not only improves safety for our state’s wildlife―animals like mule deer, elk, and bears―but it secures protection for Coloradans in their vehicles,” said Marlon Reis, Colorado’s First Gentleman.

More than 60% of all crashes in the project area are attributed to wildlife-vehicle collisions. Without the mitigation treatment, these numbers were expected to grow as wildlife-vehicle crashes continue to show an increasing trend since 2012. The project’s wildlife safety features are expected to reduce those wildlife-vehicle collisions by 85%.

CDOT NEWS/ Colorado's newest wildlife overpass and underpass celebrated
 
Here is another relevant article about animal bridges/highway overpasses.

Opinion: What does science say we can do to protect our wildlife? It’s something Utah did first

Utah has always made wildlife a priority with the first wildlife overpass in the U.S. in 1975. How are we continuing that legacy?

Habitat fragmentation spurred by population growth and a changing climate in the American West poses unprecedented challenges for the very lands that sustain our people and wildlife. Utah is experiencing more frequent megafires, drought that’s depleting the Great Salt Lake and increasing development greatly impacting the region’s wildlife heritage that supports a multimillion-dollar recreation economy that defines the state.

We must respond to these threats, and new science increasingly points to maintaining and restoring wildlife corridors as a way to help people, nature and wildlife thrive for the long term. These routes, which big game and other animals have traversed for millennia, provide critical links between the valley floors where animals spend the winter months and the cooler, lush mountains they move to for summer.

https://www-deseret-com.cdn.ampproj...partisan-infrastructure-bill-romney?_amp=true
 
Here is a somewhat relevant article.

California Senate Passes Safe Roads Bill, Putting Statewide Wildlife Connectivity Within Reach

The California Senate passed the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act on Monday in a 35-0 vote, paving the way for more wildlife crossings across the state’s roadway system. Assembly Bill 2344 now awaits approval from the governor after a concurrence vote in the Assembly, which it passed in May.

“California lawmakers agree that it’s unacceptable for animals to be slaughtered on highways due to a lack of wildlife crossings,” said J.P. Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Urban Wildlands program. “Wildlife crossings work, and mountain lions, desert tortoises and kit foxes deserve safe passage over the barriers we’ve created.”

California Senate Passes Safe Roads Bill, Putting Statewide Wildlife Connectivity Within Reach
 
Wildlife Connectivity Bill Becomes Law in California

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act into law today, paving the way for more wildlife crossings and road improvements across the state.

The law, which received bipartisan support in the legislature, will require Caltrans to identify barriers to wildlife movement and prioritize crossing structures when building or improving roadways.

“This legislation is proof that public safety and wildlife protection can go hand in hand,” said J.P. Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Urban Wildlands program. “For decades we’ve been building roads that slice through habitat and block animals’ movement. Now we know better and we’re finally taking the necessary steps to improve connectivity and make roads safer for people and wildlife.”

The law directs state agencies to develop a project list geared for areas where wildlife passage features could reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and enhance connectivity. The projects could be in the form of overpasses, underpasses, culverts and other infrastructure, which have been shown to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by up to 98% while facilitating the movement of animals like mountain lions, elk and deer.

Wildlife Connectivity Bill Becomes Law in California — Wildlands Network
 
Here is a relevant article.

Reducing the Speed Limit Won’t Make Roads Safer for Wildlife

Dusk. The road winds through this cold desert, snow piles tucked in the lee of every sagebrush like the white bottoms of the pronghorn that call this place home. Around a bend, there are fields, dry stubble dotted with mule deer. A hundred, at least, in this one spot.

With sudden purpose, a doe hops the fence and enters the right-of-way. Several others lurk behind, waiting to see what their leader will do. Her antenna-like ears are perked, scooping the hum of the car. She hesitates.

Maybe she will; maybe she won’t. I slow to give her the pause to make her decision. Her safety depends on it. So does mine.

And herein lies the premise: if drivers are moving slowly enough, they will have time to avoid hitting large animals, such as deer and pronghorn, on the road. Drivers who are driving more slowly have a shorter stopping distance – the time it takes to see an animal, hit the brake, and stop.

This premise underlies a question I have heard countless times: why don’t we just reduce the speed limit to solve the problem of animals getting hit by cars?

This is a problem that impacts some 6,000 animals every year here in Wyoming, and 1-2 million more large animals nationwide. The simplicity and logic are naturally appealing. If we can just get people to drive more slowly, we can solve this problem cheaply and easily.

But can we accomplish either? My short answer, based on years of research, is “not likely.”

Reducing the Speed Limit Won’t Make Roads Safer for Wildlife
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
Wildlife Connectivity Bill Becomes Law in California

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act into law today, paving the way for more wildlife crossings and road improvements across the state.

The law, which received bipartisan support in the legislature, will require Caltrans to identify barriers to wildlife movement and prioritize crossing structures when building or improving roadways.

“This legislation is proof that public safety and wildlife protection can go hand in hand,” said J.P. Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Urban Wildlands program. “For decades we’ve been building roads that slice through habitat and block animals’ movement. Now we know better and we’re finally taking the necessary steps to improve connectivity and make roads safer for people and wildlife.”

The law directs state agencies to develop a project list geared for areas where wildlife passage features could reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and enhance connectivity. The projects could be in the form of overpasses, underpasses, culverts and other infrastructure, which have been shown to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by up to 98% while facilitating the movement of animals like mountain lions, elk and deer.

Wildlife Connectivity Bill Becomes Law in California — Wildlands Network
Click to expand...

Personally, I would support making such legislation federal law.
 
More Wildlife Crossings Are Coming to North Carolina

A 28-mile section of Interstate 40 in western North Carolina is notoriously dangerous for both humans and animals. That’s because it cuts through two important wildlife preserves: the Pisgah National Forest and the Great Smoky National Park. Traffic on this stretch of highway has skyrocketed, leading to accidents that kill bears, elk and white-tailed deer. Can a system of wildlife crossings help?

https://www.pbs.org/video/more-wildlife-crossings-are-coming-to-north-carolina-2br9dl/
 
Video: Wildlife crossings built with tribal knowledge drastically reduce collisions
  • The Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes collaborated with the Montana Department of Transportation to design and build one of the largest networks of wildlife highway crossings in the U.S.
  • Previously known as one of Montana’s most dangerous roads, Highway 93 was upgraded to include 42 wildlife crossings that were built based on Indigenous traditional knowledge and values.
  • According to a 2015 study, animal collisions declined by 71%.
  • Today, more than 22,000 animals use these wildlife crossings annually, camera traps show.
In 1989, when the Montana Department of Transportation proposed a plan to address safety concerns on Montana’s notoriously dangerous Highway 93, their answer was to expand it to five lanes. Including a passing lane, the highway would run through the entire Flathead Indian Reservation, growing by more than 90 kilometers (56 miles) across sovereign Indigenous land.

Watch the full documentary of this story:

 
Here is another potentially relevant article.

Helping wildlife navigate road and railway infrastructure
  • Ecological connectivity can guide countries to select which areas to protect and conserve, to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, as codified in the text of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
  • According to a UN report, large-scale transport infrastructure projects currently underway or planned in 137 countries cut through approximately 60,000 km of the world’s protected areas or Key Biodiversity Areas.
  • A successful mitigation example to maintain landscape connectivity in India in recent years includes the elevated stretch of National Highway-44 near Pench Tiger Reserve in central India, where infrastructure is sited to circumvent critical areas for wildlife.
    Reflected in key goals and targets, ecological connectivity will be decisive, as countries move to implement the freshly minted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which, among its key targets, calls for a minimum of 30% of the earth’s lands, freshwater, and oceans to be protected or conserved in some form by the year 2030, amid rapid infrastructural changes.

    "As countries now move to implement this target, connectivity must be a litmus test – with the choice of which areas to protect and conserve, guided by whether they contribute to connectivity. Likewise, urban growth, infrastructure development and other human activities must be planned in ways that achieve social and economic needs while preserving connectivity,” Amy Fraenkel, Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), told Mongabay-India at the UN Biodiversity Conference or COP15.

    After multiple delays due to COVID-19, nearly 200 countries at COP15 in Montreal sealed a landmark deal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), with four goals and 23 action-oriented targets, was adopted after two weeks of intense negotiations. It replaces the Aichi Biodiversity Targets set in 2010.

    The CMS defines ecological connectivity as the “unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth.” Infrastructure, which often erodes connectivity, impacts biodiversity through deforestation, human-wildlife conflicts, habitat fragmentation, and loss.
Helping wildlife navigate road and railway infrastructure
 
What happens if a country decides to build fences along all its highway but forgets to build sufficient wildlife crossings?

You get a desperate wolf sleeping in the city park.

"
Gagat's visit to Prague, Czech Republic

The Polish wolf from the Świętokrzyska Forest continues its journey through the Czech Republic.

After a short rest in the Świtawska Upland, Gagat initially headed south, but turned west near the village of Banin. For the next five days he continued in this direction until, near the town of Ledeč nad Sázavou, he reached the highway connecting Prague with Brno.

Similarly to the Polish A4, the Czech E50 motorway stopped the wolf’s further journey to the west. On the map you can see the roads marked with yellow lines that stopped (at least temporarily) Gagat’s dispersion. Insufficient number of animal crossings or their location in the wrong place has a strong impact on the migration of many animal species. This is particularly evident in the example of Gagat’s attempts to cross the A4 motorway – it took him about 2 weeks to find the right place.

After reaching the E50, Gagat changed course and headed north-west along the motorway. In this way… he reached the outskirts of Prague! He even spent the night in a small forest at Praga 21, but he probably didn’t like the urban environment, because he retreated back east, where he tried to hunt something in the fields. Let’s hope he succeeded. Where will our Świętokrzyskie wolf go next?

*Gagat is a young wolf in the process of dispersion (migration), wandering in search of a suitable place to set up a home. He wears a GPS collar that allows us to track his steps and which was founded on the initiative of the constantly supporting us Suchedniów Forest District and Regional Directorate of State Forests in Radom by forest districts: Barycz, Daleszyce, Kielce, Skarżysko, Starachowice, Stąporków and Suchedniów.
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Author: Roman Gula"

Gagat's visit to Prague, Czech Republic - SAVE Wildlife PL
 
Here is a somewhat relevant article.

Pared-down wildlife corridors bill in the New Mexico state legislature moves forward

Lawmakers on a House committee unanimously approved a plan to leverage state funds to draw matching federal money to work on wildlife corridor projects around the state.

Senate Bill 72, which has $5 million committed to it in the state budget proposal, could bring in $20 million in federal funds to allow the state Department of Transportation to keep working on road projects to protect animals and people alike.

“From both the wildlife connectivity and human safety standpoint, this is incredibly important,” Michael Dax, the western program director for Wildlands Network, said in an interview after the House Transportation, Public Works and Capital Improvements Committee voted 6-0 to approve the measure Tuesday.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, who introduced the bill, originally hoped for an appropriation of $50 million but acknowledged after the vote that “$50 million was a pipe dream.”

Pared-down wildlife corridors bill moves forward
 
Here is another relevant article.

LETTER: Wildlife highway crossings serve a wonderful purpose

On a recent trip to Lake Mead through Las Vegas, I saw the large, new, bighorn sheep crossing structure on the Boulder City bypass section of Interstate 11. I have seen similar structures for deer in Northern Nevada on Interstate 80. What an amazing piece of work. After seeing this crossing, I wondered: How great is the benefit, what do projects like this cost and how are they funded?

According to a Nevada Department of Transportation study, more than 5,000 big game animals — such as deer, pronghorn, elk and bighorn sheep — are hit and killed by vehicles in the state annually. Wildlife-highway crossings make our roads safer, prevent lost revenue and reduce wildlife mortalities.

Wildlife highway crossings serve a wonderful purpose | LETTER | Las Vegas Review-Journal
 
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Here is another relevant article.

Utah steps up reputation as a national leader in wildlife crossings

Migrations, deadly collisions fuel $20 million in new money that will bring in federal grants

Utah earned its spot as the first in the nation to install a wildlife crossing nearly 50 years ago.

The crossing was near Beaver on I-15 and since then, high priority areas have been targeted with 50 crossings or other wildlife infrastructure, like fencing. Protective measures taken on U.S. 6 garnered a national award.

Despite this year’s record snowpack in areas of Utah, Blair Stringham, migration coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife, said collisions have not kept pace with the snow that never seems to end.

Utah’s long winter pushed wildlife out of the mountains. How does the state keep animals off the road?
 
Here is another relevant article.

Utah Makes Noteworthy Investment in Wildlife Crossings

Yesterday, Utah Governor Spencer Cox (R) officially signed off on a state budget that designates $20 million dollars for wildlife crossing projects across the state.


"This appropriation marks one of the largest investments a state has ever made in wildlife crossings. Especially given the high rates of wildlife-vehicle conflict this winter, the timing couldn't be better. With this money in hand, UDOT and UDWR will be able to make roads safer for wildlife and drivers,” said Michael Dax, Wildlands Network’s Western Program Director.

The funding, which was introduced by State Representative Doug Owens (D), a local champion for wildlife and innovative conservation policy, will allow the state of Utah to tap into over $350 million worth of federal discretionary grant funding that Wildlands Network helped secure in 2022.

The need for this dedicated funding was made clear by Wildlands Network and our local partners in Utah, including representatives from the Utah Wildlife Foundation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and many other community organizations. We helped impress upon our elected leaders the need to install these structures to sustain connectivity between key habitat areas for wildlife to support long-term population health and helped elevate the personal stories of Utahns with first-hand experience of the tragedy and cost of wildlife-vehicle collisions.

Utah Makes Noteworthy Investment in Wildlife Crossings — Wildlands Network
 
Here is another relevant article.

Wildlife crossing on I-5 near Castle Rock could be key to species’ survival, advocates say

Washington’s growing urban landscape is causing a conundrum for wildlife roaming between the Cascade Range and Olympic Peninsula, and their main barrier is Interstate 5.

Researchers say wildlife crossings scattered along a 276-mile stretch of freeway will be vital in retaining natural habitats. Currents of swift traffic spanning multiple lanes on the freeway impede habitat connectivity, or the degree to which a landscape allows ecological flows.

Wildlife crossing on I-5 near Castle Rock could be key to species’ survival, advocates say
 
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