The Wyoming Game and Fish has completed the Dubois Wildlife Migration Strategy. This strategy focuses on dealing with a deadly portion of US HWY 26 between milepost 48-73, which runs through Dubois. The plan decided on in this Strategy is to focus on reducing wildlife and vehicle collision along this roadway. Overall this Strategy calls for a designed overpass, underpasses, and fencing to prevent collisions.
The Dubois Migration Strategy Data
“Game and Fish and WYDOT are excited about the mitigation strategy and are initially focusing on the construction of the comprehensive system of the over-and underpasses in that segment of the highway from milepost 58 to 64.5.” – Daryl Lutz, Lander Region Wildlife Management Coordinator
Each year near Dubois, there are roughly 130 recorded animal carcasses that are removed from the roadway. Likewise, on average, there are 28 wildlife-vehicle crashes reported to law enforcement officials. The yearly cost of these collisions is estimated to break $790,000. These costs include property damage, accident response, cleanup costs, and the value of the wildlife killed in the crashes. The estimated lifespan of these mitigation structures is 75 years. Additionally, the structures are estimated to pay for themselves in the first 25 years of use.
“A huge thank you to the 10 Country Chapter of the Muley Fanatics Foundation, other donors, and the WYldlife Fund for their support of this important project. Of course, contributions and support get us a bit closer to the implementation of this multi-million dollar project and both agencies are grateful.” – Daryl Lutz, Lander Region Wildlife Management Coordinator
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has also created a video detailing the plans and visualizations of what the project will look like. This video can be found by clicking here. Likewise, you can read more Wyoming hunting news by clicking here.
