“Wildlife and Roadways in Western Wyoming: An Inside Look at Some of the Challenges and Potential Solutions”

This winter drivers have noticed an unusually large number of dead animals on Wyoming’s roads, raising concern about the impacts that our roads are having on wildlife. As dramatic as the sight of a carcass can be, it tells only a part of the story about wildlife and roads. Solving the problem will require a multi-pronged, multi-dimensional approach that takes into account wildlife biology and movement patterns, human behavior, human values, and economics. We will discuss how all of these parts fit together, including some of our ongoing research on deer road-crossing behavior and testing the effectiveness of reducing speed limits as a way to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.