Date:  Friday, July 17, 2009

Contact: Jeff Adamson, North Central Region Communications Manager, Wenatchee, (509) 667-2815, (509) 669-8778 Cell. E-mail: adamsoj@wsdot.wa.gov
 
Project Engineer, Mitch Reister, (509) 667-3038 E-mail: reistem@wsdot.wa.gov
 

WENATCHEE – A groundbreaking ceremony for a project meant to protect drivers from valuable mule deer and bighorn sheep herds is set for the upper picnic shelter at Rocky Reach Dam on Tuesday July 21 at 11 a.m.

The US 97A Wildlife Fence project installs eight miles of 8-foot-tall fencing along the highway between Rocky Reach Dam and Entiat on the Chelan County side of the Columbia River.

Senator Linda Evans Parlette (R-12th Dist.) and Ron Bruno of the Wenatchee Sportsman’s Association will be featured speakers. WSDOT Project Engineer Mitch Reister said the event is an opportunity for the dozen private organizations and public agencies that have been involved in bringing this project from “a dream to reality” to commemorate the success of their efforts and to raise public awareness of the seriousness of wildlife/vehicle collisions in Washington.

THG Construction, LLC will build the nearly $845,000 stage 1, which is the first 4.5 miles of fencing, projected to take a little over two months to complete. Stage 2, funded in WSDOT’s 2009-11 budget finishes the nine miles of 8-foot-tall wildlife fence on the west side of US 97A between Rocky Reach Dam and Spencer Canyon (MP 203 - 212).

Construction signing and equipment staging began July 16 and excavation and construction gets started with the ground breaking, which will consist of a “fence post installation” celebration.

The US 97A corridor between Wenatchee and Chelan has one of the highest mule deer mortality rates in Washington. As many as 160 deer are reported killed along the highway during a severe winter. It is anticipated that a 50 percent reduction in the total vehicle-wildlife collisions for the entire 40 mile corridor can be achieved with installation of the nine mile fence. The project will increase safety for the 6,000 motorists who drive the corridor each day, and protect valuable deer and bighorn sheep herds that live above the highway.

The project constructs an all-steel, 8-foot-tall fence – the first major wildlife fence project for WSDOT, and the longest steel fence of its kind in Washington. The selection was based on the longer lifespan, ease of construction, and wildfire survivability of steel posts versus wooden ones. The steel costs more, but installation is much easier, so the total costs stay about the same. The fence design includes double-panel gates and cattle guards for private access roads, as well as one-way gates and a “jump-out” ramp for wildlife that may find their way to the highway side of the fence.


(Wildlife Fence Groundbreaking – Page 2)

In addition to funding from the WDFWL, the following private contributors helped fund the project:
• Wenatchee Sportman's Association.
• Seattle Sportsmen Conservation Foundation.
• Washington State, Foundation for North American Wild Sheep.
• State Farm Insurance.
• Mt. Vernon Mule Deer Foundation.
• Central Washington Mule Deer Foundation.
• Woodinville Mule Deer Foundation.
• Washington State Bowhunters.

For more details, visit the project web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/US97A/WildlifeFence/
 

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