Earth Week 2025 came with a positive development for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) on efforts to implement a pilot program for analyzing wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) and learn ways to design safer crossings.

Amanda Novak, a resource specialist in MDOT’s Bay Region, returns to the podcast to talk about a recently awarded $476,000 federal grant and how it will be put toward the pilot program. She previously spoke about the grant on the podcast in September 2024.

While we think of white-tailed deer most commonly when it comes to WVCs, other species to be considered include elk, moose, black bear, wild turkey, pine marten, eastern massasauga rattlesnake and Blanding’s turtle.

As laid out in the project abstract for the grant, the number of WVCs in Michigan continues to increase annually, worsening risks and costs to drivers. For example, white-tailed deer alone account for more than 55,000 WVCs and cost motorists an average of $130 million per year in Michigan. Additionally, WVCs are a major threat to many wildlife populations in the state, including documented impacts on several threatened and endangered species. Projected increases in tourism, housing development and climate change effects are likely to exacerbate WVC effects on motorists and wildlife in Michigan.