Six-lane highways can be deadly for animals, and federal investments could prevent some of this harm.
From the air, the wildlife passage spanning Washington’s Interstate 90 looks like a bridge to nowhere. But conservation biologist Mitch Friedman says for animals. It’s a lifeline.
In the United States, cars and trucks kill over a million large animals a year, threatening the survival of at least 21 species — from red wolves and lynx to the desert tortoise and even two different species of salamander. "These animals still need to cross the landscape for migration, seasonal or generational, to move between habitats on a daily basis, to find mates," Friedman said."They need to get around, and underpasses and overpasses put in the right places allow wildlife to do that without risk of collisions."
A stretch of the highway, once completed, will not only improve its safety by preventing closures from avalanches and flooding. It’ll also host a network of more than two dozen wildlife corridors. On a side road, passers can see one of the underpasses — the Gold Creek bridges spanning the Gold Creek floodplain.
The project’s timing couldn’t be better. In the U.S., only 13% of the nation’s lands and inland waters are permanently protected and managed for conservation. But biodiversity losses are accelerating due to continued habitat destruction and fragmentation, along with climate change. Four million miles of public roads in the U.S. divide those critical habitats even further, creating isolated pockets of biodiversity.
Krosby says as the government begins to fund wildlife passages as part of the infrastructure plan, I-90, because it takes climate change into account, is the ideal template to work from.
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