JACKSON, Wyo. — During the Town Council Workshop on Monday, Feb. 26, County staff provided an overview of the recommended mitigation conceptual designs for the North U.S. 89/191 wildlife crossing north of town.
“North U.S. 89 is the gateway to the Town of Jackson from the north and provides a transition from Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) to the National Elk Refuge (NER) to the Town,” Ecosystem Stewardship Administrator Tanya Anderson said during the retreat.
In 2022, Teton County allocated voter approved SPET funds to design three priority wildlife crossings that were identified in the Wildlife Crossings Master Plan: Camp Creek, Teton Pass and North U.S. 89 between the GTNP boundary and the Town of Jackson.
According to the Town, each wildlife crossing has it own mitigation design plan. A team of local and regional wildlife experts, engineers and a landscape architects designed site crossings and accompanying fence in the most effective locations. In consultation with state and federal agencies, local non-profits and adjacent landowners, the team came up with conceptual mitigation plans and 30% design plans for all three locations. The plans identified wildlife access, wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots, constructability, terrain and aesthetics as most important.
During the workshop, the Town discussed the proposal for the North U.S. 89 crossing.
The National Elk Refuge (NER) borders the eastern boundary of the project area, and provides winter range for elk, bison, bighorn sheep, moose, deer and visiting carnivores. Resident mule deer winter on the western slopes of Saddle Butte and moose are a frequent casualty of wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs).
According to Anderson, this stretch of road sees almost 10,000 vehicles daily, with wide seasonal variations. It records an average of 12.2 WVCs annually, of which 61% are with mule deer, 28% are with elk and 8% are with moose.
The project team proposed a redesign of the eastern fence along the NER, which is to be included in an application for funding to the Federal Highway Administration’s Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program. The current configuration of fencing was identified as a potential barrier to wildlife permeability and connectivity in the area, because it only allows one direction of wildlife movement, from east to west onto the Refuge. While designed for elk and bison, it limits the movement of other species.
The project team recommends the following design mitigations:
- Construction of three wildlife crossing structures, including two underpasses and one overpass
- Design eight-foot high wildlife fencing for the length of the project on both sides of the highway to direct animals to safe passage
- Design specialized deer guards to help prevent ungulate incursions into the fenced right-of-way (ROW) at parking lots and side roads
- Construct escape ramps (jump-outs) to provide animals inside the ROW a means of escaping back to the habitat side of the fence
The Town Workshop minutes state that while the North U.S. 89 crossing will benefit Jackson in the long-term, there will be some short-term costs, including increased traffic congestion and noise during the construction process.
According to the Town, “The wildlife crossing has a high probability of succeeding in reducing wildlife vehicle collisions north of Town, which not only supports healthy wildlife populations but also decreases injuries, property damage and road congestion that result from wildlife vehicle collisions.”
