A bill that would have established a fund aimed at reducing wildlife collisions on Virginia’s highways has again failed to advance in the General Assembly.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. David Marsden, D-Fairfax County, was tabled in the House Appropriations Committee in a unanimous vote with no discussion. It would have applied to all wildlife, including the elk in Southwest Virginia.
It would have set up a fund to provide grants for projects that conserve or enhance wildlife corridors prioritized by the 2020 Wildlife Corridor Action Plan and associated infrastructure projects.
Marsden said Wednesday that he wasn’t present at the committee meeting and did not know why the bill failed to move forward.
“I would guess that there’s so many places you can hit a deer, and it was probably a you-can’t-fix-them-all kind of thing,” he said.
He pointed out that the commonwealth is ninth in the nation for vehicle collisions involving wildlife.
“It’s very, very expensive and people get hurt,” he said.
Previous attempts to establish the fund also failed, but the senator said he’ll be back with it again next year.
Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell County, said it’s possible some money could be included for the corridor in the final budget bill, but it’s not likely.
Morefield introduced a $5 million budget amendment for the Virginia Department of Transportation to fund wildlife crossing projects.
The delegate’s district includes Buchanan County, where most of the state’s elk herd lives. Between Dec. 1 and mid-January, four young elk, three of them less than a year old, were killed when they were struck by vehicles on Corridor Q, a new highway that opened to traffic in November. Morefield’s budget amendment would give priority to elk crossings on that highway.
Morefield said Wednesday that the amendment isn’t currently included in the House budget, but it could still be included in the final budget bill.
“We will know more in the coming days ahead,” he said. “If for some reason it’s not included, I will try again next year.”
The delegate said earlier that the state, localities and hundreds of volunteers have put a lot of time, effort and money into promoting the elk, which have proven to be an economic boost for Buchanan County.
VDOT completed a study in late 2023 to promote driver safety and minimize “vehicle animal conflicts” along portions of Corridor Q, U.S. 460, and another is expected to be published this spring. Those findings and recommendations from both studies will be used to evaluate countermeasures such as animal detection and driver warning systems in high-risk collision areas, VDOT said Wednesday.
VDOT’s actions are not dependent on the wildlife corridor fund, the department said.