How a Gift Becomes a Corridor

It is a fair question to ask of any nonprofit. Where does my money actually go? For Save People Save Wildlife this summer, the answer is visible, because we are in the middle of the exact phase where dollars turn into evidence and evidence turns into safe roads.

A gift to SPSW right now goes into Phase 2 of our SR-224 connectivity work, and Phase 2 has four parts. First, the wildlife cameras. Since January, they have been recording how wildlife moves through the SR 224 corridor. Second, the analysis, which turns thousands of frames into a precise map of where, when, and how animals approach the road. Third, the engineering, which converts that map into prioritized, site-specific recommendations by late fall. And fourth, the relationships, the patient work with UDOT, the Division of Wildlife Resources, Summit County, and Park City Municipal that turns strong recommendations into a real project.

That sequence is not glamorous. There is no ribbon to cut this year. But it is exactly how every crossing we admire came to be, including the one nearby.. The Parley’s overpass on I-80 began with the same patient data work. Recently,  a Utah State University study indicated  that 97 percent of mule deer and 100 percent of moose that approach it cross safely, that collisions there have been reduced by 77 percent, and that the structure has already saved taxpayers    15 million dollars  in just seven years. The crossing cost us $5 million dollars in 2018.  Now, more than 35 species use it. It has already paid for itself three times over!  And the return on investment continues.

The same logic is bigger than Utah. After a wolf died on a North Carolina highway, a community raised four million dollars in a year and helped unlock a 25 million dollar federal grant. New Mexico committed 50 million dollars in state funding. Later this year, the largest urban wildlife crossing in the world opens over the 101 in California, designed by Rock Design Associates, the same firm that composed our Phase 1 report. Every one of those started where we are now, with people funding the behind the scenes efforts.  

A gift of any size moves SR-224 along that path. It is the most direct thing a person who loves this place can do to keep it whole. The corridors will keep moving all year. With your help, the work moves with them.

Give at savepeoplesavewildlife.org/donate. And thank you for the attention and the love you have shown this landscape and its wildlife all summer.