Act Today: Call For Permanent Funding for Safer Roadways and Connected Habitats
Before the 2025 Oregon state legislative session, please encourage your legislators to prioritize improving habitat connectivity.
ROADS DIVIDE WILDLIFE HABITAT. WILDLIFE CROSSINGS RECONNECT IT.
Like dams in rivers, roads block the seasonal migrations and daily movements of wildlife. When roads bisect the paths that deer and elk are driven by instinct to follow, these migrating animals are forced to take a chance on crossing busy roads. We know too well how that story often ends. We've all witnessed the consequences when deer and motorists collide.
Each year in Oregon, there are over 7,000 wildlife-vehicle collisions with large animals. Highway 20 between Bend and Suttle Lake sees the highest density of deer and elk wildlife-vehicle collisions in the entire state, with 350 to 600 mule deer and elk killed every year by vehicle strikes.
Fortunately, there is a solution: more wildlife crossing structures to improve public safety and restore habitat connectivity.
AT A GLANCE
Who Your Letter Will Go To:
Joint Transportation Committee
Joint Ways and Means subcommittee
House and Senate Majority Leaders offices
What It Requests:
Permanent funding of $5 million per year to enable construction of another 20 wildlife crossing projects in Oregon over the next 30 years, including the Bend to Suttle Wildlife Passage Initiative
Deadline to Act: Before the Oregon State Legislative session starts on January 21, 2024