Roadside Wildlife Count to highlight animal-vehicle collisions during fall in Colorado

Roadside Wildlife Count to highlight animal-vehicle collisions during fall in Colorado

Opportunity for your audience to participate in showing how wildlife crossings would help local animals

September 22, 2026 – Many Americans want to know how to protect the wild animals who live near them. Here’s a unique opportunity the whole family can participate in.

Registration is under way for the 2026 Roadside Wildlife Count. People can register to participate at: https://environmentamerica.org/colorado/center/events/2026-roadside-wildlife-count/ From October 2-11, Environment America Research & Policy Center, our state organizations, Wild Aware, and other partners will be collecting data across the United States using a phone-based app to record when they see an animal (dead or alive) on the side of the road. This event will help demonstrate the need for more wildlife crossings by drawing attention to how animals need to cross roads (even highways) to access fragmented wildlife habitats. 

Wildlife crossings -- which are usually underpasses, culverts or bridges – offer a way to reconnect natural habitats and reduce collisions, in some cases by up to 97%. Each year in the United States, between 1-2 million vehicles collide with large wildlife such as deer, elk, and bears, as well as endangered species such as the Florida panther and North Carolina’s red wolf. These collisions spike during fall, especially right after the end of daylight saving time, when humans’ habits change by an hour but animals’ do not. Animals often migrate, mate or fatten up for the winter this time of year.
 

Please share with your audience how to sign up and participate:
 

WHERE: https://environmentamerica.org/colorado/center/events/2026-roadside-wildlife-count/

WHEN: Anytime between now and the end of the event, which runs from Oct. 2-11. 

WHO: Anyone who can be a passenger and log data into the app. No one should drive or bicycle and simultaneously use the app.