Our friends at Wildlands Network shared a new short film about wildlife crossings in Nevada – it’s well worth watching! From their email about the film:
“ARC Solutions and the Center for Large Landscape Conservation are delighted to announce the release of (Re)Connecting Wild: Restoring Safe Passage.
This film tells the remarkable story of the decade-long effort by the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and its partners to improve human safety by re-connecting an historic mule deer migration that crosses over both US-93 and I-80 in rural Elko County, Nevada. Faced with hundreds of motorist crashes involving deer along these two highways, NDOT analyzed carcass and collision data, along with mule deer movement data collected by the Nevada Department of Wildlife, to identify the highest risk areas for deer-vehicle conflicts.
This analysis revealed four priorities, including 10 Mile Summit and HD Summit along US-93, and Silver Zone Pass and Pequop Summit along I-80. Armed with these priorities, NDOT set about planning a series of multi-faceted projects that ultimately resulted in the construction of five new wildlife overpasses and four new wildlife underpasses, plus connective fencing, as well as the integration of four existing vehicular underpasses that today serve as multi-use structures for both motorists and wildlife. Avoiding typical bridge designs, NDOT employed innovative, wildlife-friendly construction methods to reduce costs and construction time while also maximizing wildlife usage and acceptance.
These methods are depicted in a special time-lapse segment, which allows viewers to virtually witness construction of the wildlife crossing structures along I-80. Ultimately, NDOT’s tireless efforts have achieved its primary goal of improving human safety and welfare – as evidenced by the more than 40,000 successful crossings by wildlife at the four priority sites – while at the same time restoring safe passage for migratory mule deer to more than 1.5 million acres of summer and winter habitat.”
YouTube: https://youtu.be/NK-
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/