I doubt I am the only one to notice all the dead deer along Foothill Drive, especially between Wakara and Capecchi Drive. Winter hasn’t even arrived yet, and I’ve already counted three dead does.
Together with thousands of other commuters, I’ve been taking Foothill to work for the past 16 years, and every winter I see the same needless destruction: Unable to reach the forage beneath several feet of mountain snow, the deer are forced down into the foothills to find food, where they invariably come into contact with roads and the automobiles that travel them.
During the winter months in particular, it seems a week does not go by when I don’t see a dead deer or two laying twisted and mangled in the road, gutter, or on the sidewalk, where they will often remain for days before the state collects them.
Last winter, I counted 10 dead deer along this section of Foothill (though I am sure there were more), but the deer are only the most obvious victims of these collisions, which injure (and sometimes kill) humans and cost millions of dollars statewide.
Add to this the fact that there is a well-documented deer herd in the foothills above the University of Utah and the University of Utah Hospital that is estimated to be over 12,000 strong. The Division of Wildlife Resources’ mule deer migration map indicates that the area is a “medium use” migration area. Thus, to say that the herd’s proximity represents a wildlife and public safety hazard is an understatement.
In light of the convergence of all these variables, taking preventative measures would seem like a no-brainer. At first blush, UDOT would seem to agree. According to their website, “UDOT is committed to safety, and we won’t rest until we achieve zero crashes, zero injuries and zero fatalities. Zero is the only acceptable goal.”
Given UDOT’s commitment to safety and the extent of this problem statewide (more than 4,900 collisions with deer were reported last year, though due to underreporting, the actual number is likely twice as high), one would think that the agency would do everything in its power to protect humans, property and wildlife, including something as simple as putting up flashing signs on both the west and east sides of the road to remind drivers to slow down and watch for deer.
And yet there are no signs — no “mitigation efforts,” as they are called by UDOT’s Natural Resource Manager Matt Howard — or any other preventative measures to speak of.
Tired of the carnage and of looking into the eyes of dead deer I must pass on my walk into work, I wrote to UDOT, expressed my concern, and asked what it would take to put up signage — I even offered to raise the money to pay for them. After months of prodding and follow up emails, I was finally told that, “Generally, UDOT does not install wildlife signage unless there is a heavy migration pattern. Based on the review, this specific area near the University of Utah does not meet that criteria.”
What does it matter, we might reasonably ask, whether a migration pattern is “medium use” or “heavy use” if the collision rate in that area is verifiably high or significant? Maybe UDOT knows.
Regardless, one wonders how many deer have to die, cars have to be wrecked or totaled and injuries have to be sustained in order for UDOT to do something as basic and, I suspect, cost-effective as putting up signs to help prevent these collisions and the destruction of our wildlife.
Keep in mind that the state legislature has bent over backwards to make it easier for people to kill mountain lions, in part, they claim, to boost mule deer numbers, and yet UDOT can’t even put up a couple signs?
But UDOT isn’t the only ineffectual piece of this tragic puzzle: I also wrote Rep. Brian King and council member Dan Dugan and neither of them responded. And people wonder why so few of us believe in the efficacy of government.
We all know how difficult it can be to solve complex problems, but this is clearly not one of those problems. If UDOT and the state can’t see their way clear to do something as simple and basic as this, what hope can we have in their ability to address truly complicated problems?
Maximilian Werner
Maximilian Werner is an associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies at the University of Utah. His latest book is “Wolves, Grizzlies, and Greenhorns — Death and Coexistence in the American West.”