A northern red-legged frog uses the Palensky wildlife underpass below U.S. Highway 30 in Portland in 2025. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo

SALEM — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has grants to help build bridges, overpasses and other structures that make it safer for wildlife to cross highways in the state.

The agency’s Conservation and Recreation Fund is accepting letters of interest for its wildlife crossing infrastructure grants.

The deadline to submit letters of interest is 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 19.

Grants are for shovel-ready projects for bridges, culverts, overpasses or tunnels on Oregon roads. Grant money has to be spent by April 30, 2028.

Eligible projects must include construction or significant improvement of a wildlife crossing infrastructure. Recipients can also use grant money for engineering, design and permitting. However, the money can’t be used to maintain crossings or to monitor their use.

The program has given grants for three major projects so far:

•  The Palensky wildlife underpass, on U.S. Highway 30 in Portland, was designed for northern red-legged frogs and other native amphibians

• The Cackler Marsh bridge, at the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge near Dallas, is designed to aid beaver and northwestern pond turtles.

• Wildlife pathway at the Mount Ashland exit on Interstate 5, near the Oregon-California border, benefits black-tailed deer and other species.

The Palensky underpass was finished in late 2024, and monitoring has shown that dozens of species have used it, including salamanders, tree frogs, voles, shrews, snakes, lizards, and hundreds of individual northern red-legged frogs.

“These wildlife crossing structures are critical to reducing wildlife mortality from vehicle strikes,” said Rachel Wheat, ODFW wildlife connectivity coordinator. “The fact that so many species are using the Palensky crossing so quickly following construction illustrates how effective and needed these projects are.”

More information, including grant applications, is available at www.dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/OCRF/

More information about the grant program is available by emailing odfw.ocrf@odfw.oregon.gov or calling 541-961-8421.