“Share the Road” is a common motto seen across Idaho, advocating for cars to share their roads with bicyclists. Eastern Idaho is dealing with a different road-sharing issue. Instead of single-speeds, these drivers are trying to avoid bigger beasts — elk, pronghorn and bison.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, 75% of historical migration routes for these animals have been lost in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Idaho’s Fremont County is home to many of the remaining migration routes for these animals, as well as high rates of wildlife-vehicle collisions.
A $25,000 federal-state project began earlier this summer using volunteers to identify dead animals along U.S. Highway 20 and State Highway 87.
The project aims to better understand these collisions and how to work to prevent them — including animal crossing structures.
Wildlife crossing structures could keep wildlife off the road without changing the migration routes, but Fremont County residents say they’re concerned they could drive down property values.
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