Help Virginia expand and promote wildlife corridors by telling your representative to vote yes on House Bill 2025 in the Virginia State Assembly this legislative session.

Virginia’s wildlife faces an ever-growing challenge: navigating a landscape increasingly fragmented by roads, development, and human activity. In fact, Virginia is in the top ten states in the nation for wildlife-vehicle conflict! At Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary, we have admitted over 150 patients hit by vehicles in the past two years alone. Wildlife corridors provide the safe passage wild animals and humans need.

That’s where House Bill 2025 comes in.

This crucial bill aims to expand and protect wildlife corridors across Virginia by creating a framework for planning infrastructure, standardizing collision data collection, and ensuring funding availability for crucial corridor projects. It will also help us humans too by keeping drivers safe from potentially dangerous collisions! By improving habitat connectivity, HB 2025 supports road safety for all.

🚗 Why does this matter so much?

• Protects wildlife: Corridors help animals move safely between habitats, reducing mortality and supporting biodiversity. Wildlife crossings have been shown to lower collisions by 96%!
• Prevents roadkill accidents: Fewer wildlife crossings mean fewer costly and dangerous car accidents, keeping Virginian drivers safer.
• Boosts conservation efforts: Strategic land protection and infrastructure planning create long-term benefits for Virginia’s natural heritage.
• Data standardization: Streamlining what kind of data we collect on wildlife-vehicle conflict (and how we collect it) will help wildlife corridors get built where they’re needed most.

💬 How can you help?

Your voice can make a difference! Call or email your state representative today and urge them to support HB 2025. Let them know that protecting wildlife corridors is a win-win for animals and Virginians alike.

Find your Virginia state legislator and their contact info here: Who’s My Legislator?

Find a sample letter to send to your representative here: Sample Letter

Together, we can create a safer Virginia for both wildlife and people. Thank you for speaking up for our wild neighbors! 🦊🌿

Want to learn more? Check out this info sheet created by our friends at Wild Virginia and the Wildlands Network. ⬇️