The Safe Wildlife Crossings Campaign volunteer team held a kickoff party last night at The Rose. Nearly 60 of your friends and neighbors came out to show their support for funding wildlife crossings in our valley by writing postcards to the Town Council and County Commission, signing up to get involved with the campaign by lobbying and emailing elected representatives, and partaking in fun activities like a photo booth and antler-making station. You can see photos from the event here.
The event was a blast thanks to the hard work of all the volunteers who planned and coordinated the event and many generous businesses and organizations, including The Rose for hosting the event, Hole Food Rescue and the Good Samaritan Mission for providing snacks, and Skinny Skis and Healthy Being Juicery for donating prizes for the raffle.
On average, 114 mule deer, 35 elk, and 15 moose are killed on Teton County roads each year, causing injury and death to wildlife and people and costly damage to vehicles. By building a network of wildlife crossings in the valley, we can reduce those collisions by 90%.
We have an opportunity to raise the funds to start this network of crossings with a Specific Purpose Excise Tax (SPET), the 6th cent of local sales tax paid by visitors and residents. The funds allow the community to build facilities and infrastructure like pathways, libraries, or wildlife crossings–which are an excellent investment given that wildlife stewardship is our community’s highest value.
If you are tired of seeing dead animals on the side of the road, join the Safe Wildlife Crossings Campaign by contacting Marisa Wilson at marisa@jhalliance.org. You can also sign this petition, sign up to send an email or lobby your elected representatives (you can attend a workshop to learn how to do this on March 2nd), and talk to your friends, neighbors, and elected representatives about why wildlife crossings are a worthy investment.
Thanks again to everyone who played a role in making last night possible!
