CARSON CITY, Nev. — Animals in the road cause an average of 500 traffic collisions a year in Nevada - which is why experts on wildlife, transportation and development are meeting for a summit today at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City. 

Each year, those collisions kill one or two people and cost taxpayers between $19 million and $22 million. Brian Wakeling, administrator for the game division of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, said underpasses and overpasses built to allow safe wildlife crossings make a huge difference for species such as elk, mule deer, wild horses, bighorn sheep, bears and the desert tortoise.

The Western Governors’ Association list of the “Top 50 Invasive Species in the West” delivers the first-ever regional assessment of this environmental challenge.

The compilation of terrestrial and aquatic invasive species includes highly-publicized examples such as cheatgrass, quagga mussels, tamarisk and the Emerald Ash Borer. The list also encompasses less well known, but still impactful, examples such as leafy spurge, Red shiner, Russian knapweed and Golden algae. (Download the complete list)

BITTER CREEK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Calif. – Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California Condor Recovery Program, together with their partners, released six captive-bred endangered California condors into the wild in the last months of 2017 from Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Kern County, California.

This release brings the population of condors in what is known as the Southern California flock to approximately 80 birds. The Southern California flock’s range includes the backcountry mountains of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Kern counties, as well into the Sierra Nevada Mountains foothills in Tulare and Fresno counties.  An additional 88 condors occur near central California’s coast, bringing the total population in California to 168.