Elk herd in North Cascades suffers high death toll from car collisions on State Route 20. Building a wildlife bridge to cross the highway is seen as the solution but is expensive (around $8.5 million).

• Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP) offers grant funding for animal-friendly infrastructure.

• Tribes have been strong advocates for wildlife crossings for a long time.

• The Skagit Valley project is one of the tribal-led projects that won the first round of WCPP funding.

• Matching requirement (tribes need to cover 20% of the cost) is a big obstacle for many tribes.

• Tribal advocates hope future grant cycles will exempt tribal-led projects from the matching requirement.

Read more at the Mother Jones website.