Wild Virginia is excited to welcome Jessica Roberts, the new face of habitat connectivity in our state! She has a background in endangered species population restoration and has many years of experience working in animal husbandry, community-based conservation initiatives, and environmental education program development. Her research with behavior-based management and conservation translocations has been developed… Read more
Wildlife must be able to move through our landscapes to acquire resources, find genetically diverse mates, and adapt to a changing climate. Roads, development, and other infrastructure can impede wildlife movement and create dangerous scenarios on our roadways for both wildlife and people. Virginia continues to build a network of connected landscapes and reduce human-wildlife… Read more
What is in the Wildlife Corridor Action Plan (WCAP) and what happens next? In 2020, Wild Virginia, along with other partners of the Virginia Safe Wildlife Corridors Collaborative, Senator David Marsden, and Delegate David Bulova, supported Senate Bill 1004/House Bill 1695 (§ 29.1-578 and § 29.1-579), which directed the creation of a Wildlife Corridor Action… Read more
A pipeline undoubtedly has a significant effect on the areas which they cover, affecting the landscape as well as the people, animals, and natural environment around them. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) construction over the past several years has raised a variety of unique and salient questions about its impacts, which have included river and… Read more
Photos and Text by Lori A Cash | February 05, 2022 Lori Cash is a partner photographer with Wild Virginia and generously donates her images to us. Imagine yourself driving along a dark highway at night. Suddenly, you see movement right in front of you on the road. An adult deer starts walking across the… Read more
Tune in to this podcast episode of Wild Virginia Virtual Coffee Talk, where Brie Hashem, Director of Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary, talks about wildlife rescue work and the importance of crossings for wildlife in Virginia. The Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works to rescue, rehabilitate, and release native wildlife in Central Virginia. The… Read more
Wildlife crossing structures help to connect habitats, providing animals with safe passages they can use to avoid heavily trafficked roads and highways. On November 5th, 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which contains $350 million in federal funding for a “Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program” to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. The new legislation creates… Read more
The Virginia General Assembly yesterday passed critical legislation to protect wildlife corridors and help keep drivers safer. This bill, SB 1274, builds on the wildlife corridor legislation that passed last year, creating a comprehensive program to identify wildlife corridors, protect motorists from collisions with animals, and address barriers to wildlife movement. The bill passed with… Read more
There is over $500 million in damages in Virginia for wildlife vehicle collisions. That’s substantial. Yet, recently the wildlife corridor bill made its final steps through the Virginia house, signaling a brighter future. For this episode of Wild Virginia Virtual Coffee Talk, Wild Virginia Executive Director, Misty Boos, tells us about the concept behind connectivity… Read more