Critter Crossing
A wildlife overpass brings hope for the future of animal and human collisions in the North Cascades
Photo of future overpass location, at Red Cabin Creek.
Story and Photos by Garrett Gundlach
July 7, 2025
The news came from an underpass camera. The tiny, weasel-like animal in the footage was grainy but clear. It wasn’t a weasel; it was too small to be a wolverine. It could only be a Pacific fisher.
Extinct in Washington since the 1930s, the tiny mammal was reintroduced to the wild in 2008. But before the camera captured its likeness running through the underpass, no one had seen the endangered animal in eastern Washington.
Pacific fishers were relocated from British Columbia to Washington's Cascade Mountains. Wildlife underpasses, raised sections underneath highways, allow for fishers and other animals to migrate freely within their habitats. Because of these passes, fishers were able to journey to the other side of the state.
Mitch Friedman, the executive director and founder of Conservation Northwest, was there for the release.
“Over three years, we dropped over 100 fishers in the South Cascades, and then did the same in the North Cascades,” Friedman said. ”That day that the Fisher cruised under I-90 … was a pretty affirming moment.”
Wildlife overpasses are becoming more common along highways, like I-90, and eastern Washington. But one place they aren’t seen is Washington’s largest national park, the North Cascades.
Over and underpasses save animals from becoming roadkill, yet are nowhere to be found along State Route 20 in the North Cascades. Due to promised funding being tied up under a change of administration, an overpass project coming to State Route 20 has yet to come to fruition.
An overpass may soon be coming to the North Cascades. The Stillaguamish Tribe is in the pre-construction phase of a wildlife overpass bridge for the elk population between Sedro-Wooley and Concrete.
Vehicle collisions are responsible for thousands of human and animal deaths every year as well as millions of dollars in damages, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Roads don't just create issues for small creatures like fishers: larger animals, like the Roosevelt elk, are some of the most common roadkill. The North Cascades State Route 20 becomes the final resting place for many of Washington's smallest elk herds every year, as they migrate throughout the year from Snohomish county up to the Canadian border.
Washington State Department of Transportation consistently rates State Route 20 in the top three worst elk vehicle collision zones in Washington state. One of the most dangerous sections for animals is a 23-mile-long stretch between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete. This treacherous pass saw 74 elk collisions between 2013 and 2023.
Ben Goldfarb is an environmental author. His most recent book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, goes in depth about the history of animal interactions with roads and cars; as well as different problems and solutions in the road ecology field. Goldfarb in his book, wrote about Methow Valley, an area east of the Cascades, and the dangers for people and animals that collisions can cause.
“All of these animals, grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines and elk, require these large, connected landscapes to move through in order to find food and mates,” Goldfarb said. Connectivity plays a large role in the livelihoods and species in these areas.
Photo of Elk seen from location of future overpass.
Dr. Scott M. McCorquodale, a wildlife research scientist at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, found that elk experienced high levels of stress when exposed to the presence of vehicles on roads, seeing it as a threat. Elk tend to limit their movement and foraging when they are under stress, not passing major roads that intersect their habitat and normal home ranges.
Identifying these issues is one thing; fixing them is another.
“How do you build a structure that's appealing to a moose or a weasel or, a meadow vole, a whole suite of organisms who have to use these crossings? How do you design a piece of infrastructure that wild animals will use?” Goldfarb said.
The proposed overpass is the first of its kind in the North Cascades. After years of research and development, Red Cabin Creek was picked due to its high traffic of elk, racoons, deer and other animal crossings in the area.
Animal crossings can greatly reduce the amount of roadkill created by large highways like State Route 20. But these projects take a lot of time, resources and are often difficult to get funded.
Friedman has been involved in the research, development and funding for many of Washington's wildlife crossings, over I-90, Highway 97 and many others. However, there are still pieces of infrastructure that remain stagnant.
This is due to the lack of funding from the National Highway Administration's Wildlife Crossings Pilot program, which provides funding for Washington's wildlife crossings.
The Wildlife Crossings program is grant-funded, and it has been tied up since the end of Joe Biden's presidential term. Progress has been slowed on building crossings over Highway 25 in eastern Washington. Conservation Northwest has spent around $250,000 to keep things moving, buying land and fencing it to make a better argument for their project’s funding.
If all goes well, without speed bumps, the Red Cabin overpass will be built by 2028, bringing safety and security to both drivers and wildlife that pass through this part of Washington.
Overpasses can represent more than just a path for other species, Goldfarb recalled one of the first times he got to visit a wildlife overpass north of Missoula, along Highway 93.
“We do so much on this planet to make animals’ lives harder, more difficult and dangerous,” Goldfarb said. “Here was this incredible network of infrastructure that we built to make their lives a little bit easier and safer, that was amazingly inspiring.”