Wildlife Migration and Movement
What if a busy freeway separated you and your family from the food and water you need to survive? You’re on foot, no car or truck to take you where you need to go. What would you do?.
The wildlife species that call Oregon home are no different. They need to be able to move to find food, water, mates, and for safety from predators and natural disasters. In short; we’re not different in these ways.
Freedom of movement isn’t a given for wildlife. The roads we’ve built and are building make movement a perilous and sometimes fatal necessity. Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) carcass collection data shows some 5,000 deer, elk, bear, and other large animals are killed in collisions with cars and trucks every year on Oregon roads.
The number of wildlife casualties from collisions is widely understood as the starting point in understanding the scope of the problem because it doesn’t include animals that die outside the public right-of-way. Research on wildlife-vehicle collisions suggests the actual number of large animals killed in collisions with cars and trucks in Oregon is more likely 2-3 times higher which means we may be losing 10,000-15,000 each and every year.
Additionally, ODOT’s data only includes large animals - the number of smaller species - squirrels, frogs, raccoons, turtles, skunks, foxes, and birds of prey dying as a result of vehicle strikes is unknown. That said, the shoulders of our highways, roads, and streets tell that story.
People are impacted by wildlife-vehicle collisions, too. On average, one to two motorists will die annually in Oregon because of a collision or near miss with an animal. Wildlife-vehicle collisions and avoidance also cause tens of millions of dollars in private and public property damage each and every year.
Wildlife-vehicle collisions aren’t the only challenge faced by wildlife as they move around their habitat or migrate seasonally, but it’s a problem with a proven solution; fencing and passage structures like underpasses and overpasses can help wildlife move safely across busy roadways, save lives, and reduce property loss.
Supporting Wildlife Migration and Movement
We want to help wildlife move safely between patches of habitat. Projects that support wildlife migration and movement are a priority for us and we’re working with ODOT, ODFW and community-based partners on wildlife passage projects, habitat improvement, and the conservation of wildlife migration corridors throughout Oregon.
Join us to help improve habitat connectivity for wildlife in Oregon.
Here are some things you can do:
Wildlife Ambassador
Suzanne Linford, the Founder of Protect Animal Migration and Movement, is our Wildlife Ambassador. Suzanne is an excellent resource for information about wildlife and their need to move within their range and seasonally between higher and lower-elevation habitats. If you want to learn more about how to become an advocate for wildlife, contact Suzanne to schedule a talk for your association or group. Click HERE for more information on local advocacy.
Founder of Protect Animal Migration & Movement and Oregon Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Ambassador
1. Buy a Watch for Wildlife license plate
Your purchase and renewal of a Watch for Wildlife license plate makes funding available for projects that help wildlife move safely around busy roads and between habitat patches. It also helps conserve migration corridors and restore habitat in priority wildlife connectivity areas (PWCAs). To get yours, visit your local DMV or order online.
2. Donate to wildlife migration and habitat connectivity now
If you don’t want the Watch for Wildlife license plate for your car or truck but still want to support wildlife movement and migration projects, consider making a tax-deductible donation by texting WFW to 44-321 or using the donation button below.
3. Do you own property that’s within a Priority Wildlife Connectivity Area?
Priority Wildlife Connectivity Areas, or PWCAs, are areas of land important to wildlife movement. They include both intact, relatively undisturbed, good-quality habitat as well as the best remaining marginal habitat to help wildlife move through developed or degraded areas.
Focused investments in habitat within PWCAs can increase the likelihood of long-term maintenance of wildlife connectivity in Oregon and can maximize effectiveness over larger landscapes, improve funding efficiency, and promote cooperative efforts across ownership boundaries to better enhance and protect habitat critical to wildlife movement.
Go here to see if your property is near or within a PWCA
If it is, let’s explore how we can work together to enhance, restore, and conserve these critical areas for wildlife movement.
https://oregonconservationstrategy.org/success-story/priority-wildlife-connectivity-areas-pwcas/
4. Work with us or another wildlife conservation organization to restore and conserve wildlife habitat on your property
Increasing the biodiversity of your own property is one way to help offset the loss of wildlife habitat elsewhere. On larger properties, this might include creating a range of natural habitats that encourage use by a variety of species. There are many ways to improve your property for wildlife, and, in some cases, financial assistance or tax incentives to help you in the process. Here are just a few of the resources and programs available to landowners and managers.
Under certain circumstances, the Foundation may be able to help with a cost match when that’s required. See our grant program for more information.
ODFW: Wildlife Habitat Conservation and Management Program (WHCMP)
ODFW: Riparian Lands Tax Incentive
ODFW: A & H Grants
5. Need to repair or replace your fence? Consider a wildlife-friendly design
While important for controlling livestock and preventing trespass, fences can be a hazard for a multitude of wildlife species. Animals can become entangled in or collide with fencing, sometimes with fatal results. The good news is that there are things you can do that preserve the reasons for fences while making them less dangerous for wildlife. Download our Fence Manual.
Contact us at info@myowf.org with your name and a mailing address if you need a hard copy of this manual.
Under certain circumstances, the Foundation may be able to help you with a cost match when working with one or another Federal program. See our grant program for more information.
6. Legislative and local advocacy
Do you want to advocate for wildlife conservation but don’t know where to begin? There are many things you can do and our Wildlife Ambassador, Suzanne Linford can help you get oriented.
Get in touch with Suzanne to learn more about how to advocate for wildlife or to schedule a presentation for your association or group: suzanne@myowf.org
To find out who your elected officials are, visit this link.
Here is some pending legislation that your elected official should be supporting:
Wildlife Action Needed
Ready to take action for Oregon’s wildlife? Help get 1.25% for Wildlife passed (HB 4134). 1.25% for Wildlife is a bill that would significantly boost wildlife conservation in Oregon. This bill would raise an estimated $30 million in dedicated conservation funding by increasing the tourism tax by 1.25%. With over 300 species identified as at-risk in Oregon’s Wildlife Action Plan, this funding comes at a critical time.
There are some misconceptions about this bill. See this primer for more information
Please contact your legislator and urge them to vote for the 1.25% for Wildlife bill. If you’re not sure who they are, use this “find your legislator” tool to get in touch with them.
Suzanne Linford
When my husband and I moved to Bend in 2007 from the SF Bay Area, I brought a liberal arts education and teaching credential earned from UC Berkeley, a lifelong curiosity in social and natural history; and skills from diverse employment, that would prove very useful. I was experienced in translating technical information into English everyone could understand, developing networks, managing conflict resolution and developing programs that were funded by federal grants. But mostly, I hated to be bored.
I started volunteering as an Interpreter at the High Desert Museum in Bend where learned to speak about the social history, natural history and wildlife of the high desert. The people I spoke to on these subjects taught me what the public knew, what they didn’t know and what interested them.
Most importantly, training in Interpretation taught me to be relational to whatever audience I was speaking to and to adapt accordingly. My education in all these subjects is ongoing.
I earned a Certification as a Master Naturalist from Oregon State University in Corvallis, and in 2016 co-founded a small nonprofit – Protect Animal Migration (PAM). Three wildlife biologists from ODOT, ODFW and the Deschutes National Forest and I started giving talks about wildlife and the need for wildlife crossings. This has expanded to the newest generation of wildlife outreach, Protect Animal Migration and Movement (PAMM) which is education on a landscape level of conservation. I am very fortunate to have the Oregon Wildlife Foundation as a supporter in many ways and the partners who have helped me and PAM/PAMM along the way.
The driving motivation for me is to give people information that they might use to become stewards of wildlife and wildlife habitat and supporters of land use that is essential for conservation of our natural world. It’s never ending and never boring.
See how we’re supporting regional wildlife crossing projects
We are the fiscal sponsor for the Southern Oregon Wildlife Crossing Coalition (SOWCC), a group formed to reestablish east-west habitat connectivity for a multitude of wildlife species within the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon.
More than 17,000 vehicles traverse the I-5 corridor between Ashland and the California border daily, creating an almost permanent barrier to wildlife movement and increasing the risk for wildlife-vehicle collisions and accidents.
Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was awarded a grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program (WCPP) for the design and construction of an overcrossing at the Mariposa Preserve location, approximately 3.5 miles north of our border with California.
Once an intergovernmental agreement between ODOT and FHWA is signed, work to complete engineering will begin with construction slated for sometime in 2028.
See https://myowf.org/sowcc for more detailed information about this project.
SW Oregon
Central Oregon
In central Oregon, mule deer and elk migrate annually between their winter range in the high desert and summer range in the foothills of the Cascades. Deer and elk have made this fall and spring migration for thousands of years; long before the construction of Highway 97 and 20 bisected their migration routes. Migration events and local movement put animals on roads, which sometimes lead to collisions with consequences for both wildlife and people.
Several dedicated wildlife crossing structures have been built along Highway 97 between Bend and Chemult with more needed to address the problem of wildlife-vehicle collisions in central Oregon.
Lava Butte Wildlife Crossing Project
Completed in 2012 on Highway 97, just south of Bend, the Lava Butte Project consists of two wildlife underpasses. Previously, this section of highway was a hotspot for vehicle strikes. The Lava Butte Wildlife Crossing project has reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions in the area by 90%.
Gilchrist Wildlife Crossing Project
Completed in 2022, further south on 97 near Gilchrist, this undercrossing is reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions in a seven-mile stretch of highway that previously averaged 50 collisions annually. Wildlife use and effectiveness monitoring is ongoing.
Bend to Suttle (B2S) Lake Wildlife Passage Initiative
We are the fiscal sponsor for the B2S Wildlife Crossing Coalition, a group formed to address wildlife-vehicle collisions along Highway 20 between Suttle Lake and Bend in central Oregon.
This section of highway has the highest frequency of deer and elk wildlife-vehicle collisions anywhere in Oregon with 350-600 animals killed by vehicles each year.
With partial funding support from our Watch for Wildlife Fund, a wildlife crossing mitigation analysis and conceptual design at the four preferred crossing locations has been completed.
ODOT has received funding from the Coalition to begin work preliminary to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assessment required for projects on USFS land. This preliminary work - cultural and plant surveys is underway.
A combination of funding support totaling just over $1MM, from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, ODFW’s Conservation & Recreation Fund, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Roundhouse Foundation, Oregon Hunters Association, and individual gifts from many supporters is enough non-Federal match to apply for the funding needed from FHWA’s Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program to complete design and engineering for 4 planned wildlife overcrossings near Black Butte in the project corridor.
See https://www.bend2suttlelakepassage.org/ for more detailed information and up-to-date information about this project.
Highway 97, MP 190 Overcrossing Project
The Foundation has committed up to $100k from the Watch for Wildlife Fund for this overcrossing project near milepost 190 on Highway 97; approximately 4.5 miles south of Crescent. A Design Alternatives Plan was written for this project in 2014, but no further action was taken due to a lack of funding.
An agreement between the Foundation and ODOT is in place for this project. The funds allocated will be used to begin field scoping of the crossing location, including preliminary surveying and geotechnical investigation.
Highway 97, Walker Rim Wildlife Crossing Project
The Foundation has committed up to $100k from the Watch for Wildlife Fund to advance conceptual design for at least one priority wildlife crossing location in a Highway 97 corridor between mileposts 193 and 208. A 2014 report based on wildlife-vehicle collision data and field visits by biologists from ODOT, U.S. Forest Service, the Klamath Tribe, and ODFW identified a total of five priority crossing locations within this 15-mile section of 97.
An agreement between the Foundation and ODOT is in place to advance at least one priority location toward engineering and design. The funds allocated will be used for desk and field scoping, identification of the most promising of the five priority crossing locations, preliminary surveying, and geotechnical investigation.
NE Oregon
Wallowa County Wildlife Crossing Project (WCWCP)
We are the fiscal sponsor for WCWCP, a coalition of local organizations, state, and federal agencies formed to address wildlife-vehicle collisions along Highway 82.
This Project is focused on Highway 82, between the towns of Wallowa and Enterprise, a corridor that has the highest density of wildlife-vehicle collisions in NE Oregon.
A wildlife crossing mitigation analysis and conceptual design for up to 10 passage solutions at preferred locations within the corridor has been completed.
A retrofit at the Wallowa River bridge, strategic fencing, and wildlife detection and warning systems scored highly and will be further evaluated for implementation within the project corridor.
I-84 Wildlife Crossing Project
We are the fiscal sponsor for the I-84 Wildlife Crossing Project. Interstate 84 is an almost complete barrier to wildlife movement. Our goal for I-84 is to increase wildlife access across I-84 by retrofitting existing bridges and culverts to accommodate wildlife use and, as needed, building dedicated wildlife passage structures to increase genetic diversity and resilience to climate change impacts, particularly degraded habitat due to drought and more frequent wildfire events.
The Foundation has raised the funds needed to begin a Phase I assessment of two segments of I-84; the first, approximately 16 miles east of Pendleton between mileposts 227 and 234, and the second, approximately 15 miles west of La Grande between mileposts 246 and 253.
Wanaket Wildlife Area
Wanaket is owned and managed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). The wildlife area, located just east of McNary near the Columbia River, is 2,600 acres in size and, due to its unique geology and location, home to a multitude of wildlife species including mule deer, coyote, Western pond turtle, otter, mink, a variety of duck species, owls, hawks, rattle and bull snakes. It is also bisected by US Highway 730, leading to above-average wildlife-vehicle collisions and an inordinate loss of animals; some classified as threatened under Oregon’s Wildlife Action Plan.
The Foundation, with support from the Olseth Family Foundation, is raising the funds needed to begin a Phase I assessment of a ~4-mile stretch of Highway 730 with goals to identify the most promising wildlife crossing locations and development of conceptual designs for retrofitting existing culverts and bridges and, as needed, one or more crossing structures.
Portland Metro Area
Harborton Frog Crossing Project (Hwy 30 near Linnton)
The Foundation is the fiscal sponsor of the Harborton Frog Crossing Coalition and a proposed project located near Harborton Drive on Highway 30 in the community of Linnton.
This is the location where volunteers with the Frog Shuttle are working to conserve a subpopulation of Northern red-legged frogs. See https://myowf.org/fiscal-sponsorship and scroll to “Harborton Frog Shuttle” to learn more.
The Frog Shuttle isn’t a long-term solution to conservation of this sub-population of red-legged frogs so the Coalition commissioned a wildlife crossing mitigation analysis and conceptual design for a dedicated passage structure to address the unique needs of this species.
The Phase I report was published in November 2024
Fundraising for Phase II, final design and engineering of the undercrossing:
Because Northern red-legged frogs are not classified as endangered and are also not a threat to motorist safety, our project doesn’t qualify for most sources of federal and state wildlife crossing funding. We are concentrating our fundraising efforts on private sources of support.
Palensky Wildlife Crossing Project (Hwy 30, 2 miles north of Linnton)
This project, with funding support from the Watch for Wildlife Fund, was completed in Fall 2024 and is being monitored for use by Northern red-legged frogs, other amphibians, and smaller wildlife species.
Oregon Coast
Coastal Marten Crossing Structure Project
Humboldt or coastal marten are a subspecies of American marten that live along the coast of Oregon and northern California. With an estimated total Oregon population of approximately 70 individuals, the loss of even a single one is significant. Currently, one of the largest contributors to mortality among Humboldt marten are vehicle strikes on Highway 101 and along the TransPacific Parkway near North Bend. This project focuses on potential crossing locations between Florence and North Bend along Highway 101.
The goal of this project is to reduce vehicle-related mortality of Humboldt marten and other wildlife by retrofitting existing highway infrastructure like culverts and bridges or building new structures in areas where marten presence is documented.
This project is being managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, in coordination with a coalition of federal, state, and community-based organizations, providing technical and other assistance to this effort.
With funding support from our Watch for Wildlife Fund and other sources, a consulting team is completing a wildlife crossing mitigation analysis to determine the best locations and design alternatives for crossings within the target corridor.
Wildlife Passage Assessment of Existing Highway Infrastructure
The Foundation has retained a consulting team to evaluate the suitability of existing culverts along Oregon highway and interstate freeway corridors as movement pathways for large animals. Culverts to be evaluated were previously identified as having 6 feet or more vertical clearance, overlap with a Priority Wildlife Connectivity Area (PWCA), and within the three highest density categories for wildlife-vehicle collisions with deer or elk.
As many as 35 existing structures will be evaluated using spatial and remote data, in-person visual inspections of the structures and hydrologic conditions, as well as assessment for current wildlife use, as conditions in the field allow. The information collected will be compiled along with recommendations for fencing and associated structures, vegetation management, local landowner outreach, and other opportunities to improve or maintain wildlife movement at these existing locations.
