Deseret News reports on a recent study of “ideal locations” for highway infrastructure investment to alleviate the problem of wildlife-vehicle collisions in the western US. One of the co-authors, a “road ecologist” at the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, a Montana-based non-profit, says the research team’s findings are based on an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to identifying places “where building a wildlife crossing structure might address conservation needs and cost-savings, in addition to the standard focus on human safety. Additionally, [the study authors] looked across the West and at states individually to help provide a regional context.” According to the newspaper, vehicle collisions with wildlife in 11 states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming) cost $1.6 billion each year. The incidents result in hundreds of human deaths, tens of thousands of human injuries and the destruction of more than one million large mammals. Utah’s experience with collisions and collision avoidance efforts is one focus of the article.
