Safe Passages for Wildlife (and Cars)

Wildlife face a wide, dangerous obstacle on their path to their main water source, the Roaring Fork River. Highway 82 is nearly always filled with vehicles moving at high speed, and the consequences are high for deer, elk, mountain lions, foxes, and other animal residents of the valley as they forage, hunt, and otherwise move about their daily business.

It’s this challenge that local nonprofit Roaring Fork Safe Passages is trying to mitigate. The group seeks to build wildlife overpasses and underpasses—as well as improve fencing and sightlines—along stretches of Highways 82 and 133 that have been identified as important crossing points to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and reconnect fragmented habitats