We teach that highways and interstates are corridors to transport people, goods, and services across vast landscapes and to connect rural areas with dense metropolitan centers. What began in 1916 with the Federal Aid Road Act, a federal infusion of funds to states to upgrade and build better roads, has continued over the subsequent 100 years as highways and interstates crisscrossed the country. What took Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery several years to navigate, roughly 120 years ago, can now be done in a matter of days.
The expansion of the Interstate Highway System, championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, led to the construction of over 4 million miles of urban and rural roads and over 160,000 miles of roads in the National Highway System. Enhanced mobility has been a boon for economies but a disaster for most wildlife.
Here in Central Oregon, several successful wildlife crossings have been installed along Highway 97 south of Bend in recent years, dramatically reducing wildlife and vehicle collisions. But what about the area between Bend and Suttle Lake along Highway 20, where between 350 and 600 deer and elk are killed each year by vehicle collisions?
A group of stakeholders, including state and federal agencies, landowners, institutions and nonprofits, formed the Bend to Suttle Lake Wildlife Passage Initiative in 2022 to address concerns about wildlife and vehicle collisions along Highway 20. This past July, environmental consulting firms River Design Group and Samara Group completed a feasibility study, funded through support from The Roundhouse Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund, to identify potential wildlife crossings along the 35-mile corridor between Bend and Suttle Lake.
"Our broad coalition has been key to the success of this project," said Jeremy Austin, Central Oregon LandWatch wild lands & waters program director. "This is truly a group with a shared mission to improve the safety of motorists and wildlife in Central Oregon, and this feasibility study is a great example of how effective this coalition is."
Eleven potential locations for construction of wildlife passage structures were identified. Four will be constructed as overpasses through federal funding from the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program, which was included in the Biden Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The other seven sites will be completed as funding and opportunities arise.
"Historically, ODOT has had to be opportunistic in where projects were constructed since we were including wildlife passage as part of larger construction projects," said Cidney Bowman, Oregon Department of Transportation wildlife passage coordinator. "While it's great to get those projects on the ground, we know that mule deer in Central Oregon have a sheet flow migration pattern, and single projects will not necessarily capture the entire migration corridor. Instead, we need to shift to a more corridor approach, to wildlife passage projects to effectively reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions."
"The danger to humans and the wildlife that inhabit this beautiful area is a growing concern for Black Butte Ranch homeowners and guests," said Jacob Derksen, Black Butte Ranch natural resources manager. "We know that this is a complicated and challenging situation, and we appreciate actively participating in the discussions to find a tenable solution for everyone involved."
To highlight the issues surrounding wildlife and vehicle collisions, Central Oregon LandWatch will be hosting Ben Goldfarb, environmental journalist and author of "Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet" for a free webinar presentation on September 12 at 6pm. His "Crossings" presentation will explore the concept of road ecology and how traffic volumes and speed form "moving fences" which create barriers to wildlife.
"This region provides critical habitat for a wide diversity of species, linking forested areas along the crest of the Cascade Range to the sagebrush grasslands of the high desert," said Rachel Wheat, ODFW wildlife connectivity coordinator. "Highway 20 is a formidable barrier to wildlife movement, and the risk of injury or mortality to wildlife is increasing as traffic volumes rise. The highway bisects critical migration and movement pathways for mule deer and elk, and makes it more difficult for all wildlife, large and small, to access the resources they need to survive."
