LEGISLATION TO SUPPORT CORRIDORS IN VIRGINIA
The Virginia Wildlife Corridor Action Plan
In 2020 non-profit members of the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative helped to pass landmark legislation to identify and protect Wildlife Corridors in Virginia. Read more in this press release, the legislation, introduced by Delegate David Bulova and Senator David W. Marsden, requires collaboration between state agencies such as the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the Virginia Department of Transportation to create a Wildlife Corridors Action Plan. The plan will identify wildlife corridors and existing or planned threats to wildlife movement, while also recommending priority areas for wildlife corridor projects and driver safety. As part of VDOT's environmental review process, measures will be considered to mitigate harm caused by road projects to terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
Click here for the full text.
Virginia Passes Second Bill to Protect Wildlife Corridors
In 2021 non-profit members of the collaborative worked with Senator Marsden and Delegate Edmunds help introduce critical legislation to protect wildlife corridors and help keep drivers safer. Read more in this press release. This legislation creates a comprehensive program to identify wildlife corridors, protect motorists from collisions with animals, and address barriers to wildlife movement. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, and directs key agencies to incorporate wildlife corridors and road crossings into their planning across Virginia. This legislation builds on the successful wildlife corridor legislation passed last year which directed the Commonwealth to produce a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan (WCAP) to identify important wildlife corridors and road crossings. This legislation directs the departments of Conservation and Recreation, Transportation, and the State Forester to integrate the recommendations of the WCAP into their own planning documents.
What's Next?
Wildlife corridors, or connections between patches of important habitat, protect public health, reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, allow wildlife to move to more suitable habitats, and make our state more resilient in the face of a changing climate. Protecting wildlife corridors helps to keep our ecosystems intact. Virginia’s General Assembly took great steps forward in 2020 and 2021 passing bills like the Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that will improve the identification of wildlife corridors and develop a coordinated strategy to protect them. However, there remains much work left to do.
Specific policy recommendations for the 2022 General Assembly:
Here is the link to the full paper in the Virginia Conservation Network Briefing Book
In 2020 non-profit members of the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative helped to pass landmark legislation to identify and protect Wildlife Corridors in Virginia. Read more in this press release, the legislation, introduced by Delegate David Bulova and Senator David W. Marsden, requires collaboration between state agencies such as the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the Virginia Department of Transportation to create a Wildlife Corridors Action Plan. The plan will identify wildlife corridors and existing or planned threats to wildlife movement, while also recommending priority areas for wildlife corridor projects and driver safety. As part of VDOT's environmental review process, measures will be considered to mitigate harm caused by road projects to terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
Click here for the full text.
Virginia Passes Second Bill to Protect Wildlife Corridors
In 2021 non-profit members of the collaborative worked with Senator Marsden and Delegate Edmunds help introduce critical legislation to protect wildlife corridors and help keep drivers safer. Read more in this press release. This legislation creates a comprehensive program to identify wildlife corridors, protect motorists from collisions with animals, and address barriers to wildlife movement. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, and directs key agencies to incorporate wildlife corridors and road crossings into their planning across Virginia. This legislation builds on the successful wildlife corridor legislation passed last year which directed the Commonwealth to produce a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan (WCAP) to identify important wildlife corridors and road crossings. This legislation directs the departments of Conservation and Recreation, Transportation, and the State Forester to integrate the recommendations of the WCAP into their own planning documents.
What's Next?
Wildlife corridors, or connections between patches of important habitat, protect public health, reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, allow wildlife to move to more suitable habitats, and make our state more resilient in the face of a changing climate. Protecting wildlife corridors helps to keep our ecosystems intact. Virginia’s General Assembly took great steps forward in 2020 and 2021 passing bills like the Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that will improve the identification of wildlife corridors and develop a coordinated strategy to protect them. However, there remains much work left to do.
Specific policy recommendations for the 2022 General Assembly:
- Direct VDOT to systematically collect wildlife carcass removal data across Virginia and make that data publicly available.
- Provide incentives for landowners to protect and restore wildlife corridors.
- Provide resources to the Department of Wildlife Resources and partners to launch a statewide effort to assess barriers to aquatic connectivity and make the data publicly accessible.
- Direct VDOT to determine the Aquatic Organism Passage (AOP) status of a road-stream crossing prior to replacement/repair projects and update design standards to ensure habitat connectivity and resiliency for all roadstream crossing projects.
- Direct VDOT to include exclusionary fencing in annual allocations for safety upgrades.
Here is the link to the full paper in the Virginia Conservation Network Briefing Book