In efforts to make roads safer for wildlife crossings, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to require Caltrans to prioritize crossing structures and barriers when building roadways.
The bill, labeled the Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act, recognizes how building roads in the middle of habitats and animal migration patterns can make essential species like mountain lions, elk and deer roadkill. It received bipartisan support in the legislature.
Not only can wildlife-vehicle collisions be deadly for animals and drivers, it can also lead to habitat fragmentation, which threatens the state’s biodiversity as species inbreed and face genetic isolation.
State agencies will now be required to include wildlife passage solutions in proposed road projects to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. This could come in the form of overpasses, underpasses or culvers — which have been proven to reduce roadkill rates by 98 percent, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
“This legislation is proof that public safety and wildlife protection can go hand in hand,” stated J.P. Rose, policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Urban Wildlands program. “For decades we’ve been building roads that slice through habitat and block animals’ movement. Now we know better and we’re finally taking the necessary steps to improve connectivity and make roads safer for people and wildlife.”
The legislation was backed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wildlands Network, and builds on laws passed last year that specified how mitigation credits are used for wildlife crossings.
“The Safe Roads and Wildlife Protection Act signifies an important step towards reconnecting California’s landscapes for mountain lions, migrating deer herds, amphibians and other wildlife impacted by roads,” stated Mari Galloway, California program manager at the Wildlands Network. “This policy, combined with increasingly available state and federal funding, provides an amazing opportunity to address transportation impacts on California’s ecosystems while making roads safer for motorists.”
17 comments
Newsom wants to protect innocent animals while they’re crossing the road, but at the same time, he legalized jay walking for humans.
What a doofus.
I agree with you, but then I value my dog over some people.
Building structures…can we prioritize this for the border???
And now I just saw commercial on TV where Mr Crisco head is talking negative about the oil companies in California saying they’re holding us all hostage well he does not realize or he’s just playing stupid as usual that is California’s fault the gas prices here are so high because of all the California regulations over crude oil and different blends of gasoline for the times of year new some is too stupid to actually admit that to anybody.
Mr Crisco head is the one that is causing the high gas prices and everybody before him passing all these stupid rules and regulations that California has.
…and…..This is All that people will remember November 8th.
Funny how there’s suddenly a binge of new laws from Newsom.
There goes my free dinner…
I’d rather you set up a fund to pay for those of us who want to leave California, that way we won’t hit any animals and my house will be available to someone who wants to stay in this lunatic State.
Overpasses, underpasses or culverts will serve to concentrate animals creating instant buffets for predators. Could result in imbalance in food chain and an increase in mountain lions. already a protected species in CA.
What happens when mountain lion population runs low on natural prey ? ?
Pets and tender age children to become menu items ? ?
How fortunate we are to have a state legislature with so much extra time on their hands.
I believe we need to conserve and protect the open spaces around us, including all the widlife that lives there.
Save Mout Diablo is doing an excelent job of buying up land along the Mount Diablo range down to San Jose to preseve the local ecosystem
https://savemountdiablo.org
Hey Newsom when are you going to stop all the clearcutting of healthy trees in the Sierra? ……………………crickets………….
@Obamavirus…. Those healthy trees you speak of are farmed trees that were planted 20+ years ago and owned by big lumber conglomerates. Old growth tree harvest was outlawed decades ago in California. Newscum doesn’t have much say in what those companies do with their trees.
It appears from satellite imagery that the clear cuts are in national and state forest lands near Mt Lassen and Shasta. The shear amount of cuts which you can see for yourself if you go to google maps and zoom in with sat view, is evidence that they are cutting more than “ plantations” . It may be second, growth forest and not old growth but regardless the modern environmentally friendly method to cut is to thin out and leave the larger , taller trees. This preserves topsoil and shade which helps retain soil moisture as well as preserves animal habitat. Why isn’t Newsom and the “ environmentally conscious democrat marxists all over this issue. Well I believe that are corrupt and have been silenced.
… control illegal human immigration first……… but who is going to train the wildlife to use crosswalks and learn to read signal lights? 🙂
@ Randy ~ and don’t forget they’ll need to do is lower the pedestrian buttons to cross the street so that the squirrels can reach ’em.
Seems clear they’ll have to pass a law to punish wildlife who jaywalk, why didn’t they do that in the first place???
when is this sorry state going to stop letting the environmental wackos dictate what our regulations, laws and rules are going to be?
But the story that everyone missed: Doctors in California will lose “license” if they do not go along with the ‘covid’ official narrative.
I think it’s great. Save our wildlife. But I find it amusing that people no longer have to use cross walks. Really what is going on. We are living in crazy town. Save a squirrel but people not so much.
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