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Jan 12, 2014 · U.S. Highway 97 winds south from Toppenish through a vast, lonely landscape, mile upon mile of sagebrush rangeland within the Yakama Reservation. But little grass remains on parts of this open...
- Safe Passage 97 Project News and Resources
- Safe Passage on Highway 97 in The Okanogan Valley
- The Okanogan Wildlife Crossing Campaign
- Phase 1: The Janis Bridge Undercrossing and Deer Fencing
- Finishing Up Phase 1, and Looking Ahead
- Phases 2 and 3
March 2022: State funding secured for the next wildlife underpass on Highway 97February 2022: Wildlife winning due to Highway 97 safe passage projectMay 2021: $18 million for Safe Passage 97 included in transportation package, but no agreement reached on funding during 2021 legislative sessionJanuary 2021: State funding needed to continue saving lives on Highway 97In north-central Washington’s Okanogan Valley a wildlife tragedy continues to unfold: more than 350 deer are hit and killed each year in one short stretch of Highway 97. That’s nearly one deer killed per day, and even that’s a conservative estimate. Encounters increase in the fall as deer enter their mating seasonand migrate towards the lower-eleva...
After years of local outreach, including educational programs with Omak-area students and volunteer work to renovate the trailhead at the popular Carter Mountain Wildlife Area within the project corridor, we had broad backing from local leaders and residents and buy-in from WSDOT, but were facing persistent inaction from lawmakers in Olympia. To ge...
By summer 2019, Jay Kehne, our Sagelands Program Lead based in Omak and a board member of the local Mule Deer Foundation chapter, was having discussions with leaders at WSDOT about how our funds could be used to begin solving the problem of vehicle-animal collisions on Highway 97 despite continued inaction from Olympia. Survey work and data analysi...
Due to the costs of quality deer fence and the renovation work at Janis Bridge, funding constraints meant we were unable to complete the full mile of fencing by the time the weather turned this fall. Another .6 miles of fencing will be strung in spring 2020 south to the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 7, and we’ll need to purchase and instal...
Working with WSDOT and other partners, we’ve outlined the next two phases of the Safe Passage 97 project, which would be built using funding from the state. This solution has broad local and regional support, and needs to be continued another 11 miles to reduce accidents and the loss of animal life. Using pre-design scoping documents prepared by WS...
Jan 10, 2014 · U.S. Highway 97 winds south from Toppenish through a vast, lonely landscape, mile upon mile of sagebrush rangeland within the Yakama Indian Reservation. But little grass remains on parts of this open range, grazed to the ground by thousands of hungry wild horses roaming the land.
Wild horses are now appearing with greater frequency along Highway 97 in the Horse Heavens on an increasing basis. Hence a very real challenge for the Yakima nation on how to manage the resources of the western Horse Heaven Hills.
- Dan Mcshane
- Bellingham, Washington State, United States
With $2.73 million allocated for next year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) can do detailed engineering and install the first underpass south of Janis Bridge to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions further.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), there has been a 91 percent reduction in wildlife-vehicle collisions at Janis Bridge on Highway 97 after the Aug. 2020 installation of one mile of deer fencing.
Jan 3, 2019 · The Washington Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers recently approved a $3,000 contribution to the Okanogan Trails Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation supporting the construction of a wildlife undercrossing on Highway 97 in north-central Washington.
