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Keeping It Simple:
Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads

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Bringing back quail with native grasses

In Virginia, bobwhite quail have got a new lease on life, thanks to a little bit of proactive planting by the Virginia Department of Transportation. The quail nest in tall native grasses that emerge in warm weather, but with increased development throughout the state, these grasses are often replaced with uninhabitable short turf grass. Since the birds can't survive in short grass, their population has been steadily declining. So tall, warm-season grasses have been planted in large open spaces near roadside interstates - spaces where there is plenty of land on which to nest and forage. In spring and summer it's a common sight to see bobwhites flocking to these spaces.

Doing the right thing - simply

"Keeping it simple" is more than a concept. It's a commitment.

It means using simple solutions when simple solutions will work.

It involves going beyond "compliance" to identify easy ways of helping wildlife and fish.

It means doing the right thing just because it's the right thing to do and because one has an opportunity to do it.

"We can install ledges in culverts or wood-top rails on deer fences while at the same time pursuing programmatic, region-wide solutions to transportation and wildlife challenges," says FHWA Administrator Rick Capka.

This website highlights more than 100 simple, successful projects from all 50 states and beyond. Each is "easy." Most are low- or no-cost. All benefit wildlife, fish, or their habitats.

Many projects were completed only once - to protect specific species in specific environmental conditions. Others have been repeated numerous times and have become "routine."

Some projects are undertaken regularly because research has proven them effective. Others are new innovations, "best practices," or state-of-the-art strategies.

Some projects - for example, modifying mowing cycles and installing oversized culverts in streams - are common to a large number of states. Others represent a simple solution to a site-specific environmental challenge.

We invite you to explore them all. We encourage you to find out for yourselves, through this website, how transportation professionals are working with others to do the right thing for wildlife and--wherever possible--to do it "simply."