Animal vs. vehicle usually ends badly; pilot program aims to build more wildlife crossings; 60% of funding to be rural

Photo by Travis Essinger, Unsplash

In animal vs. vehicle, animal rarely wins. "More than one million animals and 200 people are killed in wildlife-vehicle collisions every year, according to Department of Transportation estimates. The property damage from these collisions is estimated to cost $2 billion," reports Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder. "The DOT announced a new pilot program that will allocate $350 million for wildlife crossing projects on roads, specifically in rural communities where vehicle collisions with animals are most common. . . . At least 60% of the funds must go to projects in rural areas. . . . Program administrators hope to target rural areas that have previously been overlooked during federally managed infrastructure projects."

While the funding is considered a positive start, "experts say a lot more work – and money – is needed to significantly decrease the number of animals killed on the nation's roads," Carlson adds. Dividing it among 50 states will lessen the impact. Mike Leahy, director of wildlife, hunting, and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation, told Carlson, "Rural states like Montana or West Virginia are high on the list of highest wildlife-vehicle collision state. And a lot of that is because you have cars moving pretty fast down two-lane or smaller highways where there's a lot of wildlife around, including big game that can be crossing the road at any time."

Carlson reports, "The area where animals can move around uninterrupted by roads has shrunk tremendously over the past century. For some animals, this has become a serious problem: In California, mountain lions whose territory is constricted by newer six-lane highways inbreed, causing health issues. . . .The agency's new wildlife crossings program is one of several initiatives to increase animal safety on roads. . . . The goal is to reduce habitat fragmentation that prevents animals from traveling throughout their natural environments, which should fight biodiversity loss."

"These efforts are a good step, according to Fraser Shilling, director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California-Davis, but without addressing the other causes for wildlife mortality like threats from invasive species and disease, pollution, and climate change, biodiversity loss will continue," Carlson reports. "Habitat fragmentation is just one part of the problem, he said." Shilling told her, "[Wildlife] crossings… have an important ecological function in terms of restoration, but without taking care of the other things, they also have decreased utility."

"The $350 million will be released in segments, starting this year. Applicants have until August 1 to submit project proposals," Carlson adds. "Two more funding rounds will be opened in 2024 and 2025 before the program’s expiration in 2026." Leahy told her, “There’s a lot of demand out there already and a lot of excitement around the country within the states, with tribes, with conservationists. . . . I think the demand will probably exceed the level of funding…. I think there’s a good chance Congress renews the program after the pilot program expires.”