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Utah was first in the U.S. to install a wildlife crossing nearly 50 years ago. Now state leaders receive high marks for supporting efforts to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.
Whales are disturbed by vessel noise, but a measure in Olympia would provide a greater buffer for the endangered orcas in Puget Sound. The legislation increases the distance that recreational boaters must maintain from Southern Resident killer whales, from 400 yards to a thousand yards. That puts the distance in line with whale-watching vehicles. ...
This winter, volunteers counted more than 335,000 Western monarch butterflies in an annual survey, a big improvement over the last few years, but still far short of historical numbers. Observers only counted 2,000 of the iconic black-and-orange butterflies in 2020, and then 250,000 in 2021. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, senior manager of the Climate-Resilient Habitat Program, and monarch recovery strategist with the National Wildlife Federation, said it still represents a 90% decline in numbers over the past few decades. ...
Reducing the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions is the goal of a bill before the New Mexico Legislature this session. Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is a co-sponsor, after steering passage of the New Mexico Wildlife Corridors Act in 2019. ...
A partnership between Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Utah Department of Transportation is helping wildlife and fish migrate more safely throughout the state.