The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) awarded a $16.8 million grant to the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) to build 61 wildlife crossings and install 68 mi. of exclusionary fencing along U.S. 93 in southern Nevada.
This transformative project will reduce vehicle collisions with wildlife and support the conservation of the Mojave desert tortoise, a threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
The Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP) grant will go toward the proposed Coyote Springs Wildlife Crossings Project in southern Nevada along U.S. 93 near Coyote Springs in Clark and Lincoln counties. The initiative represents a long-awaited goal shared by NDOT, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
The tartet species to be protected include the Mojave desert tortoise, as well as other desert wildlife, including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, badgers, skunks, mice and rats.
Safety and conservation benefits will include:
- Protecting motorists by reducing vehicle-wildlife collisions.
- Enhancing the tortoise population stability by preventing road mortality and promoting habitat connectivity.
- Reducing the inbreeding risks and improving climate adaptability by enabling safe passage across fragmented habitats.
- Promoting the recovery of the Mojave desert tortoise population, which has faced significant declines due to habitat loss, disease, predation and road mortality.
The Coyote Springs Wildlife Crossings project is critical to the survival of the Mojave desert tortoise, as it addresses the last unfenced highway section within U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-designated critical habitat in Nevada.
- The $16.8 million grant was awarded under the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP), a federal initiative to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions while improving habitat connectivity. Additional project funding will come from Clark County Section 10 Mitigation Fees, Bureau of Land Management contributions, Lincoln County Section 10 funds, and private stakeholders such as Coyote Springs Investment, LLC.
NDOT will undertake a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) study and begin construction planning.
