Driving down a dark road in the Northwest can be dangerous this time of year. There are more deer-vehicle collisions as it gets dark earlier and as deer start to move in a little more differently than normal during mating season.
鈥淭hat makes deer a lot less cautious,鈥� said Staci Lehman with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got one thing on their mind, and they鈥檙e not looking out for cars and things like that.鈥�
State wildlife officials are asking that you slow down, don鈥檛 drive distracted, use your high beams when you can, and brake a little longer if you see just one deer, since often more deer will follow.
鈥淛ust because one deer runs across and you think, 鈥榃ow, I missed that.鈥� It鈥檚 a good idea to either slow down and stop and wait to see if more will pass,鈥� Lehman said.
People in north-central Washington are pretty used to watching for deer as they drive. A 12-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 97 is More than 350 deer are hit each year along the north-south road between Riverside and Tonasket.
That鈥檚 something people
鈥淛ust south of Janis Bridge (south of Tonasket) has a very high kill rate. There鈥檚 an alfalfa field on the east side and a crop field on the west side,鈥� according toJay Kehne with Conservation Northwest.鈥淭he deer go back and forth there and just get whacked.鈥�
Several groups, including Conservation Northwest and the Okanogan Mule Deer Foundation, are working to raise funds for wildlife underpasses at strategic spots along the road. They had of transportation funds in the Washington state budget to complete the first phase of the project.
That funding didn鈥檛 pass in the 2019 legislative session, but the groups raised around $170,000 to build fencing along one of the most treacherous stretches of highway, Kehne said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 already pictures come in of deer standing on the other side of the fence, not being able to cross,鈥� Kehne said. 鈥淵ou look at that, and you go, 鈥榃ell, we probably saved a bunch of their lives already.鈥欌��
The deer are then funneled under the highway via a nearby bridge. So far, they鈥檝e put in about a mile of posts and have set up about a third of a mile of fence, Kehne said. Now, they鈥檙e raising funds to build cattle guards before finishing the rest.
Other areas around the Northwest have seen dramatic decreases in vehicle-wildlife collisions once under- or overpasses were installed.
collisions were reduced by about 85% once crews finished an underpass along a stretch of Highway 97. The Oregon Department of Transportation has plans to begin another underpass along the highway in 2020,
Kehne said groups in north-central Washington will continue to ask the legislature to fund the area鈥檚 safe highway project.
鈥淭he whole 12-miles needs to be protected, but we鈥檝e got some of it built,鈥� Kehne said. 鈥淓ach vehicle accident costs the public about $6,000 to $7,000 in repairs and hospitals and bills. It doesn鈥檛 take long. If we save 100 deer this year on this section of highway we鈥檙e protecting, that鈥檚 half a million dollars in savings.鈥�
Courtney Flatt covers environmental and natural resource issues for Northwest Public Broadcasting. She is based in Washington鈥檚 Tri-Cities. On Twitter:
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