Passed with a surprising level of bipartisan support in the Assembly and Senate, the New York Wildlife Crossings Act requires one more step before it becomes law: Governor Kathy Hochul's signature. The legislation calls on the state Department of Transportation "to identify sites along highways, thruways, and parkways in the state where wildlife crossings are most needed." A simple goal that, advocates say, could have massive implications.
"Wildlife is using these culverts and bridges," said Marisa Riggi, Executive Director of the Western New York Land Conservancy. "But in some cases, a tiny tweak or a small change when you're upgrading or replacing infrastructure can make all the difference to a wildlife species."
The subject will be explored at length on Wednesday when the Conservancy hosts a conversation with environmental writer Ben Goldfarb. He'll be at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo at 7 p.m. for a discussion that can be viewed online.
In his book "Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet" Goldfarb shares stories of the negative impacts roads have on wildlife and how some places have taken new approaches to the issue. His "Aha!" moment came in 2013.
"I was in Montana writing about wildlife conservation and I had a chance to take a tour of these wildlife crossings, overpasses and underpasses and tunnels, all of these structures the state of Montana and Native tribes have built to allow animals to safely move back and forth across the highway," Goldfarb said.
"The opportunity to stand on top of one of the wildlife bridges is incredibly inspiring. I realized I had never really thought much about the ecological cost of roads and yet here is this multi-million dollar structure that humans had built to kind of heal some of those wounds that highways inflict on nature."
The Western New York Wildway looks to connect the largest of the region's remaining forests. Undertaken by the Western New York Land Conservancy, the initiative has sought to make land purchases or reach agreements with landowners to connect forests. In some cases, however, wildlife will need to safely traverse roads. New or modified culverts and bridges would boost the effort.
"Research has shown that when wildlife crossings are implemented right they can decrease (animal-vehicle) collisions by 92 percent when they are properly sited and have the fencing that they need," explained Marcus Rosten, Western New York Wildway Director.
It would help wildlife. It would also help drivers in New York State which reports over 65,000 car-deer collisions each year. The estimated average cost of $9,000 per crash, Rosten says, is probably low.
Rosten recently spoke with WBFO after he spent a day in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties collecting data and images from over 40 wildlife cameras.
"Yesterday was a really exciting day. I got a great image of a bobcat using a culvert that goes under a road right in one of our core areas," Rosten shared.
"We have three target species that we are trying to detect through this study: black bear, fisher, and bobcat. And I've gotten a bunch of black bear and fisher, and yesterday was the first day we were able to document a bobcat using a culvert in the wildway."
