Colorado will soon have a new funding mechanism to help make it safer for drivers and wildlife alike. A new law passed in the 2026 legislative session goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2027, that gives residents an opportunity to accept an optional $5 prevention fee during vehicle registration that will provide funding for future wildlife crossings.

“Colorado ranks at the top of the list in the country in terms of wildlife vehicle collisions,” Sen. Dylan Roberts, one of the law’s prime sponsors, told KKCO-TV. “These collisions can be very devastating, obviously for the animals that get hit, but also for human drivers. We’ve seen multiple deaths every year in Colorado, thousands of injuries and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage, people wrecking their vehicles, having to get their vehicles replaced.”

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), there were more than 58,00 wildlife-vehicle crashes reported from 2010 to 2025 that killed more than 50 people and thousands of wildlife species.

“We try to identify where the wildlife are moving by studying their migration paths and then we build what’s called exclusion fencing which basically funnels the wildlife to use those crossing structures,” Dave Cesark, CDOT Region 3 planning and environmental manager, told KKCO-TV. “There are literally thousands of wildlife vehicle collisions that happen every year in Colorado. And upwards of $80 million worth of resulting damage. And so the more that we can do to not only help public safety, but also save wildlife is important,”

About Hunt 2 Conserve

Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.

(Photo credit: Colorado Department of Transportation)