SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 11, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — State wildlife and transportation officials worked together to complete seven structures in 2023 that help fish and wildlife safely migrate throughout Utah.
Fencing was installed along several Utah freeways and highways in wildlife migration areas to help reduce collisions with vehicles. Elsewhere, fish passage barriers were constructed to help protect native fish species.
“Utah made history when it completed the first wildlife overpass in the U.S. in 1975 on I-15 near Beaver,” said Nicole Nielson, wildlife impact analysis coordinator with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. “Since then, at least 119 structures have been completed around the state that allow the passage of wildlife and fish.”
Here’s where wildlife-exclusion fencing and structures to help fish were constructed in 2023 by the DWR, Utah Department of Transportation and local conservations groups:
Central Utah
- Installed more than 2 miles of wildlife-exclusion fencing as part of the Eagle Mountain Migration Corridor preservation project between state Route 73 and Camp Williams. The project was completed in November in coordination with Eagle Mountain.
- Installed approximately 1 mile of fencing on I-80 near Kimball Junction. The project was completed in October.
Northern Utah
- Installed approximately 3 miles of fencing on I-15 near Riverside in Box Elder County as part of a larger project that will include 10 miles of fencing to be completed this spring.
- Installed fencing on U.S. 89 in Davis and Weber counties.
Southern Utah
- Constructed a fish passage barrier on Pleasant Creek on the east slope of Boulder Mountain in Garfield County. The barriers prevent fish from migrating into areas that are harmful or don’t help them complete their life cycles. This barrier is designed to protect native Colorado River cutthroat trout from non-native brook trout. The project was funded by Utah’s Habitat Council and also will aid in the future restoration of native cutthroat trout in upper Pleasant Creek.
- Reconstructed a fish passage barrier in Upper Kanab Creek, a tributary of the East Fork Sevier River in Kane County. The barrier had been damaged by flooding after the Left Fork Fire in 2022. It originally was constructed to protect native fish species — including Bonneville cutthroat trout and southern leatherside chub — from non-native brown and brook trout. This reconstruction project was funded by the state and U.S. Forest Service.
Southeastern Utah
- The Gigliotti Diversion Dam was removed on the Price River to allow bluehead sucker and Colorado River cutthroat trout to access important rearing habitat upstream. This project was completed April 2023 in partnership with Trout Unlimited, Helper City and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Upcoming projects
- UDOT was awarded $5 million for the construction of additional wildlife underpasses and fencing along U.S. 89 near Kanab. The Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program award and another $400,000 contributed to DWR through local conservation groups will allow work to begin on the project, with construction tentatively set for 2025.
- Fencing in the area surrounding Echo Junction, near the intersection of I-80 and I-84 in Summit County, is scheduled to be replaced and expanded, with the first phase of the project beginning this year.
- The DWR partnered with UDOT to conduct a study in 2023 that analyzed the feasibility of wildlife crossings and fencing along U.S. 40 in Duchesne and Wasatch counties. The partners are working to apply for funding for potential projects in the area.
