STAR VALLEY, Wyo. — This month, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) announced it has secured $20.8 million in grant funding to build three wildlife underpasses near Montpelier, Idaho, that will help protect the mule deer herd that summers in Star Valley, Wyoming.
The funding is part of $125 million in federal grants for wildlife crossing projects in 16 states. The ITD confirms that the grant covers about 98% of the construction costs for the trio of underpasses, and an additional $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will fund a portion of the fencing to connect two of the structures at the core of the migration route.
According to the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC), a herd of 20,000 animals summer between Star Valley and Idaho’s Caribou Mountains, and winter in locations northeast of Bear Lake in Idaho. Every year, approximately one-third of the herd must cross through the 20-mile stretch of Highway 30 in southeastern Idaho on the way to winter habitat.
“Roads create barriers to seasonal migrations and as traffic volume increases along Highway 30, we risk the highway becoming a permanent barrier to mule deer reaching the habitat they need,” the GYC writes on its website.
The ITD wrote in a press release that the 20-mile section can incur more than 100 mule deer collisions with vehicles each year, with about 70% of those mule deer deaths being reported in the four-mile section known as Rocky Point. The three wildlife underpasses will be spaced out along six miles of road along with eight-foot-tall wildlife fencing to “funnel” migrating wildlife toward the underpasses.
The ITD emphasizes the aim of the initiative is to both protect driver safety and ensure connectivity between crucial seasonal mule deer habitat. The Bear Lake Plateau mule deer herd is also what the ITD considers a “key piece of southeastern Idaho’s economy, bringing thousands of hunters and wildlife enthusiasts to stay and recreate in the area every year.”
According to the ITD, construction is anticipated to take place in 2026.
While the GYC states that, when installed, wildlife crossing infrastructure has been shown to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions by up to 90 percent, there is still a collection of problems that can potentially compromise the ability for wildlife crossings to alleviate the pressures of roads on wildlife.
