Making Space for Wildlife

Mountains and a blue sky in the background with a divided highway winding through forest. A grass covered bridge goes over highway connecting the forest.
Photo by WSDOT

High school students discover the world of conservation biology and learn how people build corridors for wildlife to connect species to fragmented areas of habitat. 

Students investigate the Interstate 90 wildlife corridor project that involved diverse-interest stakeholders. Stakeholder collaboration resulted in increased freeway safety for people, while also creating paths for wildlife to safely cross over and under the freeway.  

This lesson puts students into the role of a habitat biologist where they must examine what makes a landscape a good candidate for wildlife corridors. Students analyze how animals move and must determine where they would put a wildlife corridor between the North Cascades and Mount Rainier.  

Lesson plan

Making Space for Wildlife  (PDF)

Supplemental resources