Reconnecting with Wildlife Crossing Structures
From 2007–2013, Robert and I conducted baseline wildlife monitoring on Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie Pass, a bustling transportation corridor that links Seattle with all points east—eventually reaching my hometown of Boston.
Our efforts with the Western Transportation Institute were part of a major highway expansion project called the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project (I-90 SPE), whose plans included more than two dozen wildlife crossing structures designed to improve human safety and enhance ecological connectivity along a 15-mile stretch. I-90 bisects the Cascade Range at Snoqualmie Pass, hindering the natural flow of wildlife through the Cascades.
Our mission, then, was to help gather the “before” data to which “after” data could be compared. We spent many a field day checking the wildlife cameras we’d installed on either side of the interstate, or plodding along the shoulder looking for tracks of animals who dared to try to cross multiple lanes of traffic—too often with deadly results. As trucks roared by us at 70 miles per hour, I found it difficult to envision a future in which wildlife could make it safely from one side of the highway to the other.
Last week, as part of my research for a magazine article about I-90 SPE, Robert and I had the opportunity to tour several of the 13 crossing structures that have been installed to date. We’ve slowly watched these structures come to fruition during our occasional travels on the highway, but to stand in the hoof prints of elk and deer who use them to safely traverse the highway corridor imparted a new kind of hope for rewilding.
Thousands of mammal crossings have been documented by wildlife cameras now monitoring the wildlife bridges and underpasses—not to mention the countless fish, frogs, salamanders, and other aquatic animals who are benefitting from structures designed to restore stream connectivity.
I’m excited to share this story with Wild Hope readers in the fall. Meanwhile, check out a short video of wildlife crossings documented by WSDOT cameras by clicking the image below. It’s such a relief to see wildlife being given the right of way for a change.