This bill (to Protect Wildlife and Drivers – see press release, below, from the Wildlands Network) should be an absolute no-brainer; I’d actually go a lot further, requiring that any new roads have wildlife protections, crossings, etc, and that existing roads be retrofitted as rapidly as possible.
In general, I’d strongly argue that the way we build roads infrastructure in this country is flawed in multiple/disastrous ways, including their adverse impacts on the climate/environment, on communities, on wildlife (including fragmenting their habitat), on destructive/wasteful sprawl development, on fossil fuel dependency, you name it. Just imagine how much better off we’d all be if we’d focused, instead of building an interstate highway system, on buliding a high-speed rail network? But…nope, of course not. 🙁
Anyway, obviously we’re not going to solve all of this country’s problems overnight, if ever. In the meantime, let’s make sure that excellent legislation like Del. Shelly Simonds’ HB597 (“Wildlife Corridor Grant Fund; created, voluntary contributions, report”) passes and is signed into law. It won’t solve the problem by any means, but at least it’s a start!
