The Wildlife Connectivity Institute: Working to keep wildlife moving, safe, and here for the future
Photo credit: Colorado DOT, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, ECO-resolutions, and P. Cramer.
At the Wildlife Connectivity Institute, our mission is to help protect and restore wildlife connectivity in North America and across the world through research, education, and outreach opportunities.
Photo credit: P. Cramer, Utah DOT, Utah Div. of Wildlife Resources
Who We Are
The Wildlife Connectivity Institute and their partners work together to reconnect fragmented landscapes and help to prevent further bisecting of crucial wildlife habitat using science and education.
Photo Credit: Steve Winter and Sharon Guynup
Climate-Informed Wildlife Crossings
Climate-informed wildlife crossings can help both nature and people adapt to climate change. Read how scientists have collaborated on a position statement about how wildlife crossings should be created with climate change in mind. The Wildlife Connectivity Institute was a signatory of this statement.
Photo Credit: J. Richert, Blue Valley Ranch, Colorado. Taken on SH 9
Our Programs
Transportation Ecology
We research wildlife use of wildlife crossing structures and other aspects of wildlife mitigation. Our Founder, Dr. Cramer is national leader in the science and management of wildlife and transportation.
Wildlife Connectivity
We research and use science to help protect and plan to reconnect places wildlife use in their daily movements, migrations, and overall lives in the face of human development and climate change.
Education
We take the science of wildlife connectivity to professionals at conferences, present webinars, and are involved in graduate student research.
Our Active Projects
The South Dakota Statewide Rural Wildlife Crossing Study
The Massachusetts State Wildlife and Transportation Action Plan
The Missouri State-Wide Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Reduction Analysis and Hot Spot Mitigation Measures Feasibility Study
Colorado State Highway 13 Wildlife Mitigation Monitoring
Colorado US 160 Chimney Rock Wildlife Mitigation Monitoring
Utah SR 73 Eagle Mountain Wildlife Crosswalk and Wildlife-Detection Driver Warning System Monitoring
Identification of Idaho’s Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict Mitigation Opportunity Areas
News and Updates
See news articles, programs, and conference presentations where the Wildlife Connectivity Institute and its founder, Patricia Cramer are featured.
International Conference on Ecology and Transportation Dr. Cramer talk: Wildlife-Detection Driver Warning Systems’ Performance Under Two Different Sets of Conditions
Dr. Cramer presented on how two different wildlife-detection driver warning systems work in Utah and Colorado, with recommendations for future systems.
July 2025
‘LA’s loneliest bachelor’: how a mateless Hollywood puma inspired the world’s biggest animal bridge
by Miranda Green
This article is about the Los Angeles wildlife overpass being built for puma and the importance of all kinds of wildlife crossing structures. Dr. Cramer helped the journalist with the article.
July 2025
Wildlife Crossings Program Reduces Crashes and Saves Lives
This article is from The Wildlife Society and focuses on making the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program a permanent part of future Transportation Acts. Dr. Cramer gives ideas.
May 2025
Eyes Blind and Do Not Yet See
This article is written by my friend Kris Ellingsen. She talks about the idea of marking where wildlife are killed on roads as a way for us to better “see” and understand the problem of our vehicles killing wildlife. She also write eloquently about the where and how the wild world is impacted by humans.
May 2025
A Primer on Wildlife Crossings
This article is from Pew Trust gives the basics about wildlife crossings. Dr. Cramer was interviewed for this and provides context.
April 2025
A Webinar with Dr. Cramer and Contech on Wildlife Crossings
There are a lot of facts in this 1-hour presentation on why wildlife crossing structures are important, and the concerns engineers need to consider in siting and building them.
April 2025
New York Times Article on Wildlife Crossing Successes in Colorado
We worked with NY Times journalist Catrin Einhorn to develop this story and photos of successful wildlife crossing structures we monitor at Chimney Rock Colorado, and our past study along State Highway 9 Wildlife Crossings.
March 2025
The Corridors, Connectivity, & Crossings Conference
View Dr. Cramer’s presentation on what we’ve learned about getting more wildlife crossing structures into transportation plans and projects. This conference was in Palm Spring, California in January of 2025.
January 2025
News and Updates
North Carolina Wildlife Corridor Spotlights Dr. Cramer
This non-profit interacted with Dr. Cramer with a Question & Answer format on her work protecting wildlife habitat connectivity. Give it a read to understand her outlook and approach to conservation.
December 2024
Evaluating and Elevating the Role of Wildlife Road Crossings in Climate Adaptation
An open source journal article
Dr. Cramer was a co-author on this article about being proactive in predicting where wildlife will need to move under future climate change scenarios.
November 2024
Dr. Cramer & The Wildlife Connectivity Institute win the FHWA 2024 Environmental Excellence Award for Research
Dr. Cramer and the Wildlife Connectivity Institute led an award winning team to guide the U.S. and Canada on methods to incorporate wildlife into transportation planning.
June 2024
Support our Work
Be part of our mission and help support our efforts to maintain and restore wildlife connectivity