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WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2023 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 3180
By Delegate Walker
[Introduced January 31, 2023; Referred to the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then Technology and Infrastructure]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new article, designated §20-2D-1, §20-2D-2, §20-2D-3, and §20-2D-4, all relating to establishment of enacting the Wildlife Corridors Act; identifying and protecting wildlife corridors; requiring a Wildlife Corridors Action Plan that will provide comprehensive guidance to state agencies for identifying, prioritizing, and maintaining important areas for wildlife movement; providing powers and duties; directing that a list of priority projects be developed.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
This article shall be known as the "West Virginia Wildlife Corridor Act."
(a) The purpose of this article is to declare that it is the duty of the state, as a trustee of West Virginia's wildlife and natural resources, to identify, designate and mitigate obstacles to habitat corridors, including existing and future highway networks;
(b) Provide direction for the Department of Transportation to proactively implement projects designed to enhance public safety and mitigate barriers to wildlife movement across state roads and highways by reducing the threat of wildlife-vehicle collisions at high-use wildlife crossing areas;
(c) Provide direction to the Department of Natural Resources to proactively plan and provide for the needs of wildlife such as large mammals in the face of changing conditions caused by drought, development, and other natural and human-made wildlife stressors;
(d) Require the preparation of a wildlife corridors action plan by the Division of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, that will, in one unified document, detail the opportunities, research and actions needed in West Virginia to identify and maintain seasonal dispersals, daily movements and migrations of wildlife throughout the state; and
(e) Identify priority wildlife corridors projects by specifying locations, projects and actions needed to preserve long-term habitat corridors for wildlife.
As used in the
Wildlife Corridors Act:
(a) "Human-caused barrier" means a road, culvert, commercial or residential development or other human-made structure that has the potential to affect the natural movement of wildlife across the landscape;
(b) "Large mammal" includes mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, black bear and mountain lions;
(c) "Species of concern" means a wildlife species identified by the Division of Natural Resources as being adversely affected by habitat fragmentation exacerbated by human-caused barriers and the high potential of wildlife-vehicle collisions; and
(d) "Wildlife corridors" means those areas used routinely by wildlife to travel through their habitat and includes corridors used by migrating wildlife.
(a) The Division of Natural Resources, in coordination with the Department of Transportation, shall create a state "wildlife corridors action plan";
(b) The wildlife corridors action plan shall contain:
(1) Identification of existing highway crossings that pose a risk to successful wildlife migration or that pose a risk to the traveling public because large mammals use the crossing;
(2) Identification of other human-caused barriers, especially road segments that negatively affect wildlife habitat and movement;
(3) Information about the habitat and movement needs of species of concern with particular attention to large mammals or other species that pose a risk to the traveling public;
(4) Projections of anticipated effects that drought and other stressors will have on wildlife habitat, dispersal and movement;
(5) Information about the habitat quality needed to support and maintain viable populations of wildlife;
(6) Information about how increased movement of species could benefit overused and highly impacted habitat areas;
(7) Maps that identify locations of:
(A) Existing populations of species of greatest concern;
(B) Existing wildlife crossings; and
(C) Areas requiring additional monitoring or research;
(8) Protocols for post-completion monitoring of wildlife corridors projects in order to assess their effectiveness in establishing, maintaining and promoting wildlife movements;
(9) Economic benefits anticipated from preserving wildlife movement patterns, including the potential impact of reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions;
(10) The wildlife corridors project list; and
(11) Additional information that the Division of Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation deem necessary and appropriate to carry out the intent and purposes of the West Virginia Wildlife Corridors Act.
(c) The department of Division of Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation shall:
(1) Consult with and actively seek the involvement of tribal governments and tribal members in the development of the wildlife corridors action plan;
(2) Solicit advice and recommendations from environmental groups, hunters and guides and other interested persons during development of the wildlife corridors action plan; and
(3) Rely on the best available science and data to be shared with key state, tribal and federal land management agencies to ensure cross-jurisdictional and multi-state collaboration and to facilitate further collaborative work with such agencies in gathering existing and future science-related data to continue to improve wildlife habitat and mitigate wildlife-human interactions.
(d) The wildlife corridors action plan shall be:
(1) Open for public comment before being finalized; provided that, once finalized, the Division of Natural Resources and the Department of Transportation shall publish the action plan on their websites and shall submit the action plan to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 15, 2024; and
(2) Updated at least every 10 years and may be amended prior to a full update depending on changes in conditions affecting wildlife and wildlife-human interactions.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create wildlife corridors, identify and protect wildlife corridors; require a Wildlife Corridors Action Plan that will provide comprehensive guidance to state agencies for identifying, prioritizing, and maintain important areas for wildlife movement; provide powers and duties; direct that a list of priority projects be developed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
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