I’ve been the secretary of an outfit called WaysSouth for about ten years. We’re the idiots who think it’s a poor idea to build a four-lane highway through the Cherokee National Forest to save two minutes over the existing road. We seem to have just won that one, by the way. We also killed I-3, the boondoggle proposed Interstate between Savannah and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It would have saved something like ten minutes over the existing route through Atlanta, and completely devastated our mountains.
We were also instrumental in persuading North Carolina DOT to add a wildlife crossing to the improvements they are planning for NC 143 at Stecoah Gap (that’s the road that bypasses the Nantahala Gorge on the way to Robbinsville).
One of our Board members sent along this link, to an article on a wildlife crossing in San Antonio:
https://www.ecowatch.com/san-antonio-wildlife-bridge-2649485994.html
I found it very interesting that the mayor of San Antonio knew enough to brag on the accomplishment, and claim it’s the biggest and best in the country. (The one that’s planned for Stecoah Gap will actually be bigger – that is, longer and wider. It will combine a crossing for hikers on the Appalachian Trail with a landscaped crossing for wildlife.)
I wasn’t aware of the EcoWatch website before. There’s some interesting stuff there:
For instance, here’s a link to a European study that says that “[he happiest Europeans are those who can experience numerous different bird species in their daily life, or who live in near-natural surroundings that are home to many species:
https://www.ecowatch.com/birds-happiness-study-2649413979.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2