By Mike Totey, Conservation Director
OHA has been working across the state to address critical areas with a high density of wildlife/vehicle collisions. Work has been completed on Highway 97 at Gilchrist (where OHA invested over $100,000), and projects are planned on the southern portion of Interstate 5, Highway 20 between Suttle Lake and Bend, and Highway 20 east of Juntura.
In northeast Oregon, two different highways are in need of work to safely get wildlife, specifically deer and elk, across busy highways. The first is Highway 82 in Wallowa County, between Wallowa and Enterprise, where way too many white-tailed and mule deer are struck by vehicles every year. The second is Interstate 84 between Pendleton and La Grande. While elk and deer collisions are clearly a concern on the roadway here, GPS wildlife tracking has shown this interstate to be a barrier to migrational movement. Addressing this barrier will be a key factor to connect habitat, protect seasonal movement corridors, promote healthy elk and deer populations, and improve safety for motorists on this stretch of the interstate.
All of this work takes a tremendous amount of planning, time and funding to complete a project. In the end, wildlife collisions are decreased by over 85 percent, habitat stays connected, and travelers are safer.
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