Right of Way
Photo: Anders Norman
“Right of Way,” my feature article in the current issue of Wild Hope, celebrates the early success of wildlife crossing structures at I-90 Snoqualmie Pass—the inspiring project that brought Robert and me to Washington more than a decade ago. New structures and fencing allow deer and elk, coyotes, and other wild animals to safely traverse the highway, thereby reconnecting habitats to the north and south. Read an excerpt below, and click on the button that follows to link to a digital version of the magazine.
Highways are a paradox. Among our own kind, they evoke freedom, mobility, the romance of the open road. Pop songs blare through our speakers as we whiz past the scenery at 70 miles an hour, the iconic “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” covered so many times you could play it cross-country without hearing the same artist twice. But for other species traveling our landscapes, highways are too often a dead end. Many wild animals won’t even get close to the roar of traffic, and those who dare try to cross do so at their own peril.
I became intimately acquainted with this paradox while working for the Western Transportation Institute (WTI), a leader in the scientific field of road ecology. From 2008 to 2013, my husband, Robert Long, and I conducted baseline surveys along Interstate 90 about an hour’s drive from Seattle, where more than two dozen wildlife crossing structures were being planned as part of a major highway expansion project. I-90 bisects the Cascade Range at Snoqualmie Pass, hindering the natural flow of animals through a bottleneck of public lands. The structures would begin at the Pass and enhance ecological connectivity for 15 miles eastward, making it one of the most extensive wildlife crossings projects on the planet.
Please look for Wild Hope at your local bookstore or purchase a copy on the magazine’s website—where you can now view Volume 10 in digital format.
