Every day wildlife are killed on California’s roads and highways. In 1920, noted wildlife biologist Joseph Grinnell observed hundreds of roadkills during his travels along the state’s roads. He may have been the first roadkill observer; we continue that tradition today with the California Roadkill Observation System (CROS). Last August, the UC Davis Road Ecology Center and the Information Center for the Environment collaboratively developed and distributed the CROS (http://www.wildlifecrossing. net/california). The goal of the CROS is to encourage participation of large numbers of people in both understanding the extent of roadkill and helping develop innovative ideas for reducing roadkill. Over the last year, >200 people reported over 6,000 roadkill observations across the majority of the state using the website. We invite you to join us in our endeavor to accurately describe this important impact of roads and traffic on wildlife in order to come up with ways we can reduce the impact. Please read the performance report (see the link below) for our first year’s activity, consider logging-in and becoming an observer, and share the web link and report with your colleagues and list-serves. We welcome your feedback on our program, questions, invitations to collaborate, and future participation.

 

"This [roadkill] is a relatively new source of fatality; and if one were to estimate the entire mileage of such roads in the state, the mortality must mount into the hundreds and perhaps thousands every 24 hours." (Grinnell, 1920)

 

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