Over 7,000 animals were killed in wildlife-vehicle collisions on Colorado roads last year. Most of those happened on the Western Slope.
One local nonprofit — Roaring Fork Safe Passages — is trying to make Highway 82 safer by gathering funding to build five crossings from Carbondale to Aspen.
Cecilly DeAngelo is the Executive Director at Roaring Fork Safe Passages, and spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Regan Mertz about what inspired the wildlife collision mitigation work being done in our valley.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Regan Mertz: When was Roaring Fork Safe Passages founded? How did it come to be?
Cecily DeAngelo: Roaring Fork Safe Passages was founded in 2022. It was founded after I witnessed a car accident between a Jeep that was in front of us and a large stag that jumped out on Owl Creek [Road].
That incident got my wheels turning, and, simultaneously, I read an article in the New York Times. [It was] about how effective wildlife overpasses and underpasses are, how they can reduce wildlife vehicle collisions by 95%, and wildlife actually use them. So, those two things happened at once and really led me to be inspired to bring this work to the Roaring Fork Valley.
Mertz: Could you talk to me about the evidence that these wildlife overpasses or underpasses work?
DeAngelo: Over the past, I would say 25 to 30 years, these structures have been built all over the world. There's some trial and error, depending on the location, the target species, and the size and shape of the crossing that's built. But what we were able to learn over the many years of these being built is what is going to be used, and what is going to be used by a specific species.
At this point, we have a lot of knowledge to be able to build to the fairly precise size to know, “Okay, this structure is going to be used by elk. Or this structure will be used by elk, bear, deer. Or maybe a structure that might just be used by smaller rodents.”
So, the historical data collection that's happened has led us to know that we can build structures that really work. Then after the structures have been built, there's been data collection studies where they go and they track how many animals use the crossing. They track the number of wildlife collisions before the crossings are installed, and then after.
We're able to see that on any given structure where you have a crossing plus wildlife fencing, that it typically reduces wildlife vehicle collisions from somewhere between 85 and 95%
Mertz: I feel like the example that's always used is the one in Kremmling that has reduced vehicle wildlife collisions by about 90% or 92%.
DeAngelo: Between 92% and 94%. Pretty amazing. And they did a really wonderful five-year study after that, where they were able to track the reduction in wildlife vehicle collisions, and that's where we get that data from.
Mertz: You had mentioned you got into this because you witnessed a collision between a Jeep and a stag. Are there any other stories that have inspired this work?
DeAngelo: It’s so moving to see the monitored videos of the installed crossings that are popping up across the country, or when you look to places like France that have long been installing crossings like this. You see the mom leading her two babies over or under a highway safely, or a whole herd of elk crossing together.
[It’s] just so inspiring. It's so amazing to see it, [that it is] really a first of its kind, where you're giving back some safe habitat to animals instead of taking away. [It] allows them to move across the landscape without endangering their lives or the human lives.
Mertz: Thank you so much for coming in and speaking with me.
DeAngelo: Thank you. This has been wonderful.
Support for this Nonprofit Spotlight series comes from the Aspen Community Foundation.
