Northern Arizona is known for its roaming wildlife and the world’s largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest. This rugged, contrasting landscape beckons to species that need space to meander, yet many find themselves barricaded by the state’s cross-cutting interstates.
That’s why multiple state and federal entities have come together to propose up to three new wildlife highway crossings throughout northern Arizona to protect both animals and motorists.
Arizona Game and Fish reports at least a hundred collisions with big animals like elk and deer each year on Interstates 17 and 40, mostly during summer months. A recent study found that this number is expected to increase by over 50% in the next decade due to habitat loss and fragmentation.
But wildlife crossings can help. They arch gracefully over highways, creating a funnel lined with native vegetation and guarded by fenced buffers. Combining both human-made and natural features, these proposed structures would be covered in native soils and low-lying vegetation like snakeweed and rabbitbrush. The bridges are expected to be completed over the next several years.
Arizona has built over 20 wildlife corridors, including both over and underpasses, since 2008. Areas with these bridges have seen a 90% decrease in wildlife-related highway accidents.
Worldwide, over 120 highway crossings help animals to move freely and maintain genetic diversity without colliding with motorists. They offer linked, continuous stretches of habitat to species in a constantly shifting world.
This Earth Note was written by Danika Thiele and produced by KNAU and the Sustainable Communities Program at Northern Arizona University.