The annual Arizona Transportation Policy Summit, attended by planners and legislators, featured a new guest this year — the famous P22 Hollywood sign mountain lion. Also new was the focus this year on wildlife and connecting habitats.

At the Summit, CSDP’s wildlife biologist Jessica Moreno joined Logan Christian of the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators to share examples and the cost-benefits of wildlife crossings to over 300 attendees in Sierra Vista, including planning organizations, transportation planners, engineers, city mayors, vice-mayors, regional tribal leaders, and Arizona state legislators.

CSDP shared the new short film Wild Hope that features Arizona wildlife crossings and, of course, P22 (you can watch it below!). The Oro Valley wildlife crossings makes a brief cameo in the film — a heartfelt introduction to a new topic for many at the conference. Moreno then presented on wildlife crossings around the nation, how they work, and how they are funded.

In short, wildlife crossings work, they pay for themselves, and Arizona could do much more.

Arizona is the only western state to not have passed any legislation about wildlife crossings despite being at the forefront of wildlife crossing engineering and success in the country.

Moreno also joined the conference field trip for State Legislators for a tour of wildlife crossing structures, roadkill studies, and corridor conservation in Patagonia and Sonoita, co-hosted by our partners at The Nature Conservancy’s Patagonia Preserve, ADOT, and Borderlands Restoration Network.