By:
While driving on Virginia roadways, it’s common to see deceased deer, squashed turtles, and other wildlife that weren’t able to make it across the road safely. A bill working through the General Assembly would create a new fund for wildlife corridors, special road crossings designed to help animals stay out of harm’s way and reduce crashes.
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources estimates that deer and car collisions cost drivers around $553 million annually.
“The return on investment for wildlife corridor projects is incredibly high and we need everyone, from state planners to VDOT contractors, to be thinking about how we can reduce vehicle wildlife collisions,” House Bill 597 sponsor Del. Shelly Simonds, D-Newport News, said in a release. “Just one underpass combined with fencing can reduce crashes by 96%.”
The measure sets up the Wildlife Corridor Grant Fund, which the general public may donate to when they conduct Department of Motor Vehicles transactions such as renewing car registrations or filing title replacements. Residents may also donate to the fund when filing their income tax returns. The bill does not ask for dollars from the state’s general fund.
“We realize that it’s a tight budget year per the state budget and so we just really wanted to focus on ways to push this grant fund forward,” said Trapper Fowler, Habitat Connectivity Program Director for Wild Virginia, which supported the measure. “Looking to other states, there’s great examples of the public just really being interested in and supporting the donations of wildlife crossings specifically.”
Other states including neighboring Maryland have a similar donation process for wildlife crossings programs; Maryland’s has raised over $85,000 since the summer of 2025. Wyoming started a fund through a wildlife conservation license plate in 2019 and has raised $1.6 million.
The private donations would be used to match federal grants to build infrastructure such as culvert expansions, wildlife under- and overpasses, and fencing, and will fund training for wildlife protection programs. Advocates for the bill said that having a pot of funds to use as grant matches will make Virginia more attractive during federal grant applications.
The legislature has already created a wildlife corridor action plan to find ways to reduce damage to drivers and help wildlife cross major roadways. Simond’s bill, if successful, will put money towards the plan’s priorities that have been identified through studies and agency collaboration.
The bill now heads to the Senate for further debate.