PORTLAND, OR – After two years and more than 5,600 photos submitted by volunteers, a statewide crowdsourcing project is helping Oregon biologists track where vehicles are killing wildlife and which species are affected.
Launched in 2024 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Zoo, the Roadkills of Oregon project mobilizes residents to photograph and document roadkill. More than 890 people across the state have contributed observations covering hundreds of species, ranging from butterflies to badgers.
Oregon has the highest rate of wildlife-vehicle collisions on the West Coast, with an estimated 14.5 million animals killed on state roads annually. Historically, agencies primarily tracked collisions involving large animals like deer and elk, leaving gaps in data for smaller wildlife…