Vehicle-Wildlife Collisions.

On average, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) receives 1,500 reports from law enforcement each year for wildlife-vehicle collisions.  Wildlife carcass removal by the WSDOT suggests that a minimum of 5,000 collisions with deer and 200 collisions with elk occur each year, and collisions also occur with other large mammals and smaller wildlife such as raccoons, snakes, and squirrels.  The WSDOT uses tactics such as wildlife fencing, crossings, and median barriers to encourage animals to stay off highways.

Habitat Connectivity.

The degree to which the landscape facilitates or impedes wildlife movement across the landscape is known as habitat connectivity.  Wildlife need to move through the landscape for a variety of reasons, including food, protective cover, and in response to seasonal conditions.  The WSDOT has partnered with the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and other stakeholders on a statewide habitat connectivity assessment, which identified areas where wildlife require movement across highways, and the findings from this partnership have informed the WSDOT's projects statewide.

Connectivity Funding.

The 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $350 million for the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP), which provides funding for projects that seek to protect motorists and wildlife by reducing collisions and improving habitat connectivity.  In creating the WCPP, Congress found that there are more than one million collisions between vehicles and wildlife annually, which present a danger to human safety and wildlife survival, cost over $8 billion, and result in approximately tens of thousands of serious injuries and hundreds of fatalities on United States roadways.

Treasury Income Account.

The Treasury Income Account (Account) is used to hold the earnings of investments of surplus balances from various accounts and funds of the State Treasury.  Monthly, the State Treasurer distributes interest earnings credited in the Account to the General Fund.  There are specific exceptions in which the interest earnings are not distributed to the General Fund, but are distributed to certain listed accounts and funds based upon each account's and fund's proportionate share of the average daily balance for the monthly period.

Integrated Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Strategy and Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Action Plan.

The WSDOT and the WDFW must develop an integrated wildlife habitat connectivity strategy (Strategy) in order to implement and periodically update the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Action Plan (Action Plan), developed by the WDFW.  In developing the Strategy, the WSDOT and the WDFW must consult with tribal governments, federal agencies, and nongovernmental partners representing nonprofit conservation organizations and academia, for recommending funding strategies and priorities to the Legislature, and developing agency budget requests.  The Strategy should include the following objectives:

• help advance projects that provide safe passage for wildlife and the traveling public;
• enhance or maintain ecological connectivity for Washington's fish and wildlife species;
• bring together state and federal agencies, tribal governments, and various nongovernmental partners that represent academia, nonprofit organizations, and biological and engineering sciences in the furtherance of this purpose; and
• establish a framework for prioritization, oversight, and funding recommendations related to implementing the Action Plan.

The WDFW must take the following actions to implement the Action Plan:

• develop strategies for habitat protection and restoration in priority corridors through various actions including the incorporation of mapped connectivity corridors in the priority habitats and species program, providing county planning departments with appropriate habitat connectivity data to support the development of and updates to comprehensive plans and open space policies, and conducting outreach and education with private landowners; and
• contingent on funds being appropriated, update the Action Plan every six years through the incorporation of new information and stakeholder consultation.

Washington Wildlife Corridors and Washington Wildlife Crossings Accounts.

The Washington Wildlife Corridors Account and the Washington Wildlife Crossings Account are created in the State Treasury for use by the WDFW and the WSDOT, respectively.

Contingent on funds being appropriated, the WDFW is authorized to use funds from the Washington Wildlife Corridors Account for the implementation of strategic activities that promote the protection and management of wildlife corridors identified in the Action Plan, which includes a variety of enumerated activities.

Contingent on funds being appropriated, the WSDOT is authorized to use funds from the Washington Wildlife Crossings Account for the design, construction, identification, restoration, and protection of wildlife crossings and other highway features to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and habitat fragmentation, which includes a variety of enumerated activities.

The WSDOT and the WDFW must report to the Legislature and the Governor's office on expenditures from their respective accounts and how the expenditures have furthered the Action Plan by December 1, 2026, and by June 30 of each even-numbered year thereafter, contingent on funds being appropriated.

The Washington Wildlife Corridors and the Washington Wildlife Crossings Accounts are added to the accounts that receive interest earnings monthly from the Account.