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California: Build Lifesaving Wildlife Crossings to Stop Fatal Collisions

California: Build Lifesaving Wildlife Crossings to Stop Fatal Collisions

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Tragically, thousands of animals are killed by vehicles while crossing busy roads in their habitats in California every day. A new bill is progressing through the California legislature which would incentivize the state to construct life-saving wildlife crossings. Please urge the California State Assembly to proactively protect innocent animals from being killed by vehicles!

California is home to diverse habitats and nearly 40 million people. The roads people use to travel are built throughout habitats where animals used to roam freely. While trying to cross these busy roads, animals such as mountain lions, black bears, deer, American badgers, and the California red-legged frog, among many others, are struck and killed by vehicles. Legislation is urgently needed to protect these animals and drivers alike!

Senate Bill 790 encourages the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to implement proactive wildlife crossing projects that prevent animals from being killed by vehicles. The bill would give the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) 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.

SB 790 builds upon an existing memorandum of understanding between Caltrans and CDFW, which allowed for a mitigation credit agreement as part of an existing corridor project. The bill grants CDFW clear authority to provide Caltrans an incentive to retrofit existing highway infrastructure with wildlife passage features by issuing Caltrans compensatory mitigation credits that can be used for future projects requiring environmental mitigation.

Wildlife crossings give animals an alternate route to cross busy roads, therefore decreasing the number of fatal collisions with vehicles. A crossing is typically an underpass or an overpass that allows animals to cross from one side of the road to the other. Crossings also allow for an increase in gene flow between small, fragmented wildlife populations which helps to maintain biodiversity. Animal populations without adequate gene flow have an increased risk of inbreeding and local extinction. The climate crisis has contributed to habitat loss, increasing animals' need to roam for mates, water, and food.

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