Wildlife Moves into the State House
Utah passes $20 million for wildlife crossings, will New York be next?
Author Leanne Spaulding is Wildlife Connectivity Program Manager at EPIC
The Utah legislature recently approved $20 million in funding to mitigate transportation infrastructure impacts on wildlife migration, habitat connectivity, and public-safety from wildlife-vehicle collisions. Utah’s investment is the second largest made by any state and demonstrates a strong commitment to protecting and preserving wildlife populations and their habitats. The move represents a win for conservation efforts in wildlife-rich Utah and is a positive step towards mitigating the negative impacts of roads, highways, culverts, and bridges on wildlife populations.
Transportation infrastructure has unintentionally fragmented and degraded wildlife habitat, leading to increased mortality rates among animals on several fronts. Among them are vehicle strikes, severing of migratory routes, and diminished access to ideal spawning grounds. Wildlife connectivity efforts aim to minimize these negative impacts by constructing overpasses, underpasses, or removing problematic structures such as culverts along highways and roads to improve wildlife mobility and protect people. Utah’s historic level of funding will be used on activities such as to construct new wildlife crossings and aquatic organism passages, and enhance existing connectivity infrastructure. Implementing these and other mitigation measures allow fish to swim upstream and herds of pronghorn to cross highways. All while combating habitat fragmentation and improving driver safety. It’s a win-win-win situation!
This funding is especially important given the global decline in biodiversity. According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), approximately one million plants and animal species are at risk of extinction. The main drivers of this crisis are habitat loss, climate change, and pollution, among others. Habitat loss specifically is driven in large part by human activities such as land-use change, deforestation, and infrastructure development, including roads, highways, and bridges.
Utah’s action sets an example for other states to follow. New York State is currently considering the New York Wildlife Crossing Act (Senate Bill S4198), which would establish a statewide program to design, construct, and maintain wildlife crossing and other mitigation measures. The bill would also require state agencies to consider the impact of their actions on habitat connectivity and wildlife mobility and take steps to reduce or eliminate impacts.
If passed, the New York Wildlife Crossing Act would be yet another significant step by a state towards combating habitat fragmentation and restoring wildlife connectivity by reducing the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure on animal populations. Other states should take note of Utah and New York’s actions and consider similar steps to protect and conserve wildlife populations within their borders. With historic levels of federal funding available in support of this work, the time is now.
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The Restoration Economy Center, housed in the national nonprofit Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), aims to increase the scale and speed of high-quality, equitable restoration outcomes through policy change. Email Leanne if interested in learning more, or consider supporting us!