The tally
● Estimated annual wildlife roadkills in and around Saguaro National Park East and West
● Reptiles: 27,000.
● Amphibians: 17,000.
● Mammals: 6,000.
● Birds: 1,000.
Source: National Park Service
Some steps to help wildlife
● Efforts to make roads more wildlife-friendly
● Pima County in 2003 approved a series of road-design guidelines aimed at accommodating animals in projects built in sensitive areas.
● An advisory committee working on a proposed $1.9 billion regional transportation plan has recommended spending up to $10 million to make some of that 20-year plan's road projects more compatible for wildlife.
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● Paul Beier, a Northern Arizona University professor of conservation biology, has obtained a $60,000 annual grant to analyze eight key Arizona road-based wildlife corridors yearly, including four in Southern Arizona this year, and propose ways to design the roads to handle animals.
● The Arizona Department of Transportation is keeping open for wildlife an old railroad underpass on Interstate 10 south of Avra Valley Road. It is part of a widening project adding a lane in each direction between West Cortaro and Tangerine roads.
● The National Park Service and the County Transportation Department collaborated last year on a $78,000 project for a 12-foot-wide, 7-foot-high and 62-foot-long culvert under Sandario Road when it also did safety improvements on that road inside Saguaro National Park West.
Sources: State and county transportation departments, National Park Service and Paul Beier
