An important step for Pennsylvania’s wildlife

A PennEnvironment-backed proposal has helped secure a federal grant to create a statewide plan for wildlife crossings

PennEnvironment’s work to help pass a bipartisan resolution in the state House studying opportunities for wildlife corridors is already paying dividends. In part due to the passage of the PennEnvironment-backed House Resolution 87, federal officials recently approved a grant of $840,000 to help Pennsylvania create a statewide plan for wildlife crossings in the Keystone State. This will help our native species, defend against habitat fragmentation, and help avoid the dangerous wildlife-auto accidents that plague Pennsylvania.

These crossings are urgently needed. Last year we once again saw Pennsylvania rank among the worst states for animal-vehicle collisions in the nation. Pennsylvania drivers had a 1 in 59 chance of getting into an accident with wildlife this past year.  These numbers are stark but unsurprising for the thousands Pennsylvanians who’ve been involved in these collisions.  The sad reality is that every year thousands of Pennsylvanians who are involved in these accidents suffer injuries and costly vehicle damage, in addition to the thousands of animals killed through these collisions on Pennsylvania’s roads. And this isn’t just a deer problem. In 2021, over 500 black bears perished on Pennsylvania roadways and 60 of our state’s mere 1,400 elk were killed by vehicles.  Pennsylvania’s painted turtles, whose numbers are declining, are also frequent victims of traffic accidents as they move from one pond to the next to breed. These frequent collisions endanger both drivers and Pennsylvania’s native species, highlighting the urgency of investing in a proven solution for helping to avoid wildlife-vehicular collisions in Pennsylvania:  wildlife corridors.

Black bear with cubsPhoto by Wikimedia Commons | CC-BY-SA-3.0

This is why our team at PennEnvironment are so excited that this winter, the Biden Administration’s Federal Highway Administration announced that Pennsylvania would be receiving a $840.000 grant to tackle the problem of animal-vehicle collisions.  This grant will allow our state agencies – the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and others – to  develop a comprehensive strategic statewide plan for developing wildlife crossings for Pennsylvania’s roadways.  

Elk in Elk County, PennsylvaniaPhoto by governortomwolf/flickr | CC-BY-2.0

PennEnvironment has been laying the groundwork for this exciting moment for a long time. Our national staff at  Environment America worked with our allies in Congress to include funding for wildlife corridors and crossings. It was this advocacy that helped ensure that $350 million for wildlife corridors was included  in the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, signed into law by President Biden on November 15, 2021.

But in order for Pennsylvania to be able to access those funds, state officials needed to be able to demonstrate that the Keystone State is making wildlife corridors a priority. To pave the way for this to happen, PennEnvironment has been a leading voice calling for the Pennsylvania legislature to take action.  We held educational webinars to inform the public about the urgent need for wildlife corridors,  we garnered statewide media attention on the issue, and we signed on over 60 outdoor recreation businesses, sportsmen organizations and conservation groups in support of Pennsylvania’s wildlife corridors . All that work paid off last May, when the Pennsylvania State House passed House Resolution 87 by a 129-72 vote. HR 87 directs state officials to study the status, potential gaps, and management and benefits of wildlife corridors for Pennsylvania. The passage of HR 87 not only has kicked off the technical work to begin identifying opportunities for corridors in Pennsylvania, it demonstrated the broad-based political will to make wildlife a priority here in Pennsylvania that was needed to secure the grant from the Federal Highway Administration. 

PennEnvironment staff building support for wildlifePhoto by Renee Wellman | TPIN

So what does this new funding mean for Pennsylvania? It means that the biggest players, agencies and experts in Pennsylvania  will be coming together to protect the Keystone State’s beloved wildlife species and the habitat that they call home, and to keep our wildlife off Pennsylvania roads.  

Consider: PennDOT supports nearly 40,000 miles  of state roads and highways,  25,000 bridges, and much of the new roadway construction throughout the state, while the Game Commission, Dept of Conservation and Natural Resource and the Fish & Boat Commision,  manage almost 4 million acres of land across Pennsylvania. including priority areas for wildlife conservation like our state parks and gamelands. This means a collaborative plan to minimize animal-vehicle collisions will have a huge impact.  This planning will help ensure that wildlife crossings are included in our transportation and land-use planning for decades to come.

To learn more, you can listen to my recent interview alongside State Representative Mary Jo Daley on what the PennDOT funding means and how we got to this point with WDIY’s Karen El-Chaar. You can also check out our explainer on the importance of wildlife corridors and what they mean for Pennsylvania wildlife.