Colorado records nearly 4,000 wildlife-vehicle collisions every year, a toll transportation officials are working to bring down. Near Fort Garland, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) partnered with the Colorado Department of Transportation to fund three new wildlife underpasses and seven miles of exclusionary fencing, with officials projecting an 80% decrease in crashes with big game as animals adjust to the new structures. In the San Juan Basin, NFWF funding helped extend fencing to existing overpass and underpass structures, guiding animals toward safe crossings instead of oncoming traffic.
“The most durable solutions come when landowners, transportation agencies, tribal nations, conservation organizations, and local communities work together toward a shared goal. Wildlife crossings are a powerful example of what can happen when we invest collaboratively in infrastructure that protects the people, landscapes and wildlife that call Colorado home,” said Louis Bacon, Founder and Chairman of The Moore Charitable Foundation, whose Colorado affiliate, the Trinchera Blanca Foundation, has long championed this kind of collaborative work.
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