Sponsors (8)
The bill establishes stable, targeted federal funding and tribal support to build wildlife crossings and reduce animal-vehicle collisions, at the cost of increased federal spending, a small administrative set-aside, and reduced opportunity for future program redesign.
Residents of rural areas and local governments gain stable, dedicated federal funding for wildlife crossings through a $100 million/year program (FY2026–2031), improving habitat connectivity and reducing animal-vehicle collisions.
Tribal governments can get grant funding covering 100% of eligible project costs and receive technical assistance (up to 0.5% of program funds) to prepare and implement wildlife crossing projects, lowering financial and capacity barriers on tribal lands.
Unobligated funds for the program remain available until expended, allowing unspent authorized amounts to be used later and improving flexibility and continuity of multi-year projects.
The $100 million/year authorization increases federal discretionary spending, which may raise fiscal pressures or crowd out other transportation priorities paid from limited federal allocations.
Making the program permanent reduces opportunities for future re-evaluation or pilot testing that might have improved program design before long-term expansion.
Permitting the Secretary to retain up to 0.5% of program funds for administration slightly reduces the amount directly available for projects.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Makes the wildlife crossings pilot permanent and authorizes $100M/year for FY2026–2031, with expanded tribal cost share and technical assistance provisions.
Introduced November 18, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress November 18, 2025
Converts the existing wildlife crossings pilot into a permanent federal program and authorizes $100,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2031 to support planning and construction of wildlife road crossings. The bill increases tribal support by allowing a 100% federal cost share for qualifying tribal projects, creates a tribal technical assistance set‑aside of up to 0.5% of authorized funds, allows the Secretary to retain up to 0.5% for administration, and makes unobligated amounts available until expended.