Public lands are a national treasure. They are integral components of our country’s culture, natural resource management, and biodiversity conservation. But not all forms of protected wild areas always work as well as they should for actually protecting biodiversity. One major gap is that roads run through many public lands — the U.S. Forest Service alone manages approximately 370,000 miles of roads through National Forest — and cars can kill wildlife. While many drivers are aware of and cautious about the risk of hitting a large animal that could damage their car or cause injury, a collision with a small mammal, bird, or reptile might go completely unnoticed. In 2025, I conducted a pilot study surveying a 2-mile stretch of Gothic Road for road-killed small animals over 1 week. I found 108 animal deaths in that short span of time and space. If we conservatively estimate that most roads see less traffic than Gothic, and that peak recreation only lasts 4 weeks per year, the potential toll taken on wildlife populations by roadkill is still staggering. For instance, with just 100 miles of road and 1 month of recreation traffic, we could see as many as 43,200 dead small animals.  

I realize that the last paragraph was a major bummer. I’d like to invite you to practice optimism with me for the following reasons. This year, I’m conducting an experiment to test what kind of road sign messaging could encourage drivers to slow down and be cautious of hitting small animals, and whether this change in behavior results in fewer animal deaths.

Above: Two road signs by Savannah Troy designed to test which messaging causes drivers to slow down, ultimately leading to fewer wildlife collisions

I have already surveyed 1,200 people about sign designs, and there were strong results suggesting that certain messages would, in fact, get drivers to slow down. I believe that, given the chance, people would care about and change their behavior in simple ways to help out wildlife. I’m hoping this experiment will prove that. What I know for certain is that no matter the outcome of the experiment, I will have concrete, data-backed recommendations for ways to manage traffic on back country roads that would keep animals safe. And I plan on making those recommendations known to anyone who will listen! So, if you care about this issue too (which I suspect you do), please stay tuned for the results of this study and the advocacy that comes afterwards.  

Interested volunteers can register here.

— Savannah Troy, PhD