Building bridges for wildlife in Montana. photo by Bill Ruediger.

Nearly 4 million miles of roads and 200 million vehicles keep Americans moving. But our mobility comes with a price. Roadkill has pushed some rare species – such as the panther and grizzly bear – closer to extinction.

For the past 10 years Defenders of Wildlife’s Habitat and Highways program has been working not only to reduce the current impacts of roads and highways on wildlife and habitat, but also to diminish future impacts by incorporating wildlife conservation into transportation planning. Roads and highways affect wildlife directly as roadkill and indirectly via the degradation, fragmentation and loss of habitat.

What do wildlife crossings do?
One way to reduce deadly wildlife and human impacts is to build wildlife crossing structures either over or under existing roads. These structures help reduce the risk of wildlife-vehicle collisions and increase habitat connectivity. However, the structures alone are not enough to keep animals off of roads, several miles of fencing is necessary to help corral animals toward the crossing structure and away from oncoming traffic. Existing crossings help reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and allow threatened and endangered animals to move through their habitat in search of food, water and mates.

Turtle crossing sign near Rehoboth, Delaware. Photo by John Beard.

Wildlife crossings in the Conservation Registry
Defenders of Wildlife hopes that placing wildlife crossing projects on the Conservation Registry will highlight projects that are having positive results around the country. These projects are helping protect animals such as elk, deer, bobcat, bears, bighorn sheep and the critically endangered Florida panther. Conservation Registry users can see how transportation projects coordinate with other conservation measures like critical habitat designation, conservation planning and other land protection measures.

View these transportation projects:
I-75 Alligator Alley. Wildlife crossings help endangered Florida panthers.
Montana US 93. Extensive wildlife-sensitive highway.

Underpasses as well as overpasses
Many successful wildlife crossings are underpasses that the general public might be unaware of. By placing these projects on the Conservation Registry we hope to show where these crossings are located and increase awareness of wildlife movements in the area. View Arizona SR-260 underpass project.

Moose entering and leaving culvert under US 89 near Logan, Utah. Photo by Patty Cramer

While these projects are a good start, more crossings are necessary to protect wildlife for future generations. One million vertebrates die each day on our nation’s roads and highways. Habitats are becoming more fragmented as we continue to build roads and highways in ever sprawling communities. With the threat of climate change it is even more important for animals to be able to move in order to adapt to changing habitats. Building wildlife crossings across the country will help alleviate many of these problems and will allow humans and nature to travel safely, side-by-side.
Read more about Defenders’ Habitat and Highways projects here.