It’s National Wildlife Week and we’re taking a look at some of the activity we’ve seen on our I90 wildlife crossings! The first elk we saw use the new overcrossing near Snoqualmie Pass was on May 1, 2020 – and we saw 500 more elk crossings the rest of that year! Add to that coyote, mule deer and bobcat and there were more than 1,000 crossings in 2020 on the overpass, pretty fantastic for such a new structure.

While crossing activity tends to slow down in the winter, we have seem some earlyseason users, including a coyote galloping through dense snow, and a raven making snow angels.

While the overcrossing gets most of the attention, there are some undercrossings in the area as well and one just barely beat the overcrossing in total activity in 2020, seeing 12 more total crossings. It had 499 mule deer crossings to 307 by the overpass, along with 462 elk, but far fewer coyote (22545). We also saw our first cougar crossing that underpass!

At another undercrossing along I90 near Resort Creek, we believe we detected an American marten – a weasellike animal with a bush tail and foxlike face (it’s a bit hard to tell given the thermal video, but we think so). We also regularly see hoary marmots tanning on the rocks at the creek, and you can also see a mule deer family taking a dip there. Allinall, very exciting to see all this activity my wildlife, and even more important, happy that we’re providing safe travel for both the animals and vehicles driving on the highway.