Last year, New Mexico lawmakers created the Wildlife Corridors Fund, starting it off with $5 million. That spring, U.S. Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigeig chose New Mexico as the site to announce a grant program to fund the crossings, encouraging the state to partner with the federal government to do more to reduce crashes with large animals. Now, additional funding for the projects is up in the air.
Wildlife corridors allow animals to pass under or over a roadway, cutting down on the estimated 1,200 wildlife crashes each year in New Mexico while also allowing the animals to roam freely.
In 2022, the state published an action plan outlining the 11 areas most in need of the crossings. The top priority alone, US 550 north of Cuba, was estimated to cost over $45 million. The projects are meant to be implemented “when funding becomes available.”
Lawmakers are working with unprecedented revenue this year and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recommends they put $30 million toward the corridors. The legislative recommendation on the other hand doesn’t set aside any new money, suggesting instead the state Department of Transportation allocate some of its cash balance toward the projects.
Republican Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley told DOT Sec. Ricky Serna at the Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday that she could “see the need” but called the governor’s recommendation an “awful lot of money.”
“Are we posting signage for coyotes and deer?,” she asked. “And I mean this seriously. Like, how do you encourage wildlife to take the bridge two miles down the road?”
Serna explained any signage would be for the drivers. Wildlife would be communicated with more passively.
“So, what we’ll do with a wildlife corridor is design the environment in a way that moves them through the corridor specifically,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Bobby Gonzales told Brantley about two separate times he saw elk hit on the road around Taos, one just last weekend.
“So, this is a beginning for our state recognizing the need for this kind of improvement — safety both ways, for wildlife and for us.” he said.
According to the action plan, the investments should see significant returns as well, saving lives and millions of dollars in property damage and medical costs.
The Mescalero Apache Tribe was the only New Mexico-based grant recipient of the first round of the $350 million federal Wildlife Crossings Program. It received $480,000 to study a stretch of US-70, which saw over 17 crashes per mile over 10 years — the most of any in New Mexico, according to state data.
