We’re thrilled to share the good news! California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 790 into law to protect animals from fatal collisions with vehicles by incentivizing wildlife crossing projects. Thank you for signing our alert to support this vital bill and save countless wild animal lives across the state!

Urban sprawl driven by human population growth has made life difficult for wild animals who must roam to find food, water, and mates outside of their fragmented habitats. As a result, thousands of animals are killed by vehicles while crossing busy roads every day. Wild animals such as mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, black bears, deer, American badgers, and the threatened California red-legged frog are struck and killed. The passing of SB 790 is a huge victory for these animals and many more!

SB 790 encourages the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to implement proactive wildlife crossing projects that prevent animals from being killed by vehicles by giving them an alternate route to cross busy roads. This new law gives the California Department of Fish and Wildlife the authority to issue mitigation credits to Caltrans in exchange for those projects, which include constructing an overpass or underpass, vegetation management, directional fencing, and barrier modification. 

We’re avid members of the California Wildlife Corridor Working Group, which meets regularly to foster wildlife corridor projects and worked to ensure this vital bill became law. This summer, we also raised funds to build the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over Highway 101 in Los Angeles, which will be covered in native vegetation to provide habitat, shelter, food, and water for crossing animals and serve as a model for habitat connectivity worldwide. Thanks to all of you for supporting our work to enhance wildlife crossings!

For more on how you can help protect wildlife, visit our Wild Animals campaign.