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Dear John,

Wildlife doesn't recognize borders. They follow food, water, shelter, sometimes by instinct and sometimes by generational knowledge transfer, across landscapes that have sustained them for millennia.  Our commitment to you, and to wildlife, is to make sure those landscapes are connected and thriving.

This month's stories come from across North America, and together they paint a picture of what that work looks like on the ground: a bighorn sheep population fighting for survival at the California-Mexico border. Elk and mule deer in Colorado freed from fences that blocked their winter range. Mule deer in California one step closer to safely crossing U.S. 395. Red wolves in North Carolina — one of the rarest animals on the planet — given a fighting chance on a stretch of highway that was once their leading cause of death.

These are not isolated projects. They are pieces of the same mission, unfolding in different landscapes, guided by the same conviction: that wildlife must be able to move to survive, and that we have both the tools and the responsibility to make that possible.

Thank you for making this work possible. We hope these stories remind you why it matters.

For the wild,

Katie Davis

Executive Director

Fewer than 800 Peninsular bighorn sheep remain in the U.S., and the Jacumba subgroup is the genetic link between populations on both sides of the California-Mexico border. A completed wall would permanently sever that connection and with it, the population's prospects for a successful recovery.  Wildlife Biologist Christina Aiello reports from the field on what's at stake.

WILDLIFE FRIENDLY FENCING

New Program to Reconnect Critical Habitat in Colorado

Wildlands Network has been awarded funding through the RESTORE Colorado program to survey 500 miles of fence, remove  or modify 15 miles of barriers, and close unauthorized roads across Rio Grande National Forest and BLM lands. For elk and mule deer, these obstacles can cut off access to winter range entirely, which are critical for individuals to survive winter snows and obtain nutrition that allows them to reproduce the next spring.

NEW WILDLIFE CROSSING IN CALIFORNIA

New Wildlife Overcrossing Location Planned for U.S. 395 in California

After years of research on one of California's most dangerous roads for wildlife, we've selected the site for one of the first wildlife overcrossings on U.S. 395 — a corridor critical to mule deer and pronghorn movement. Made possible by a Wildlife Conservation Board grant, this milestone is the first step toward crossings and fencing that can reduce collisions by more than 90%.

NEW SHORT VIDEO

How Can We Make Our Roads Safer?

Wildlife-vehicle collisions cost American communities more than $10 billion every year — and the solutions already exist. Wildlands Network's Misty Boos joined the Pew Charitable Trusts to make the case for wildlife crossings, including a Virginia underpass on I-64 that paid for itself in under two years. Watch the full conversation.

ROAD RESEARCH

Renewed Funding for US 64 Road Study in North Carolina

Every weekday morning since August 2024, our team has been on US 64 in eastern North Carolina, tallying and removing roadkill to protect one of the most endangered carnivores on earth, the red wolf. From 2020 to 2024, 12 red wolves were killed on these highways. Since we started, only one has been lost. We just secured a third year of funding to keep that work going.

WILDLIFE SIGHTING

Alligators and Red Wolves on U.S. 64 in North Carolina

A recent alligator sighting on U.S. 64 underscores the urgent need for wildlife crossings on this busy North Carolina highway, which is the only habitat on Earth for the last wild red wolf population. Vehicle strikes have been their leading cause of death.

Since our team launched daily roadkill surveys in August 2024, wolf mortality on that stretch has dropped from five animals to one. That data helped secure funding for underpasses and fencing that will protect red wolves, alligators, and hundreds of other species moving through the corridor.  

Your support makes a difference.