SEATTLE -- The perils of traffic aren't just a human concern. Wildlife advocates say animals need highway crossings to survive.

Mitch Friedman's organization Conservation Northwest was integral in developing a wildlife crossing project on I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass.

"If we don't provide ways for wildlife to get under or over our roads and highways in the places that they need to cross, then we end up with smashed cars, injured drivers and dead wildlife," Friedman said.

As Congress considers a major transportation bill, Friedman said he's eyeing the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program. It would provide $250 million in grants over five years to states, tribes and local governments for wildlife infrastructure projects.

Friedman noted these projects also would provide jobs at a time when unemployment numbers are high.

Beth Pratt is regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation in California. She's part of an effort to build the largest wildlife crossing in the world over 10 lanes of Highway 101 in Los Angeles.

But Pratt noted crossings have to do more than get animals across highways.

"No matter what site you're using, the animals have to feel comfortable going over it," Pratt said. "They have to feel comfortable approaching it and they have to feel comfortable, obviously, when they get off it that you're leading them into ground that feels safe."

Pratt said without the LA project and others, species such as cougars face a serious challenge crossing highways.

"At worst, [it] could prove not just deadly for one animal but actually hasten the extinction of local populations of wildlife," she said.

Friedman with Conservation Northwest said he used to worry that wildlife crossings would be controversial.

"The public generally supports these things and I've yet to see a backlash against taxpayer investment in providing wildlife crossings to make our highways safer," he said.

A U.S. Forest Service timber-harvest proposal in Pocahontas County has conservation groups worried about potential harmful impacts to endangered freshwater fish species, like the candy darter.

Rick Webb, board member of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance, explained dirt and gravel roads needed for logging also increase the risk of erosion and sediment in nearby streams, which can compromise habitat for brook trout, the candy darter and other aquatic life.

Webb wants the Forest Service to conduct more research to alleviate these concerns.

"An Environmental Impact Statement would provide an opportunity to look at the existing conditions," Webb explained. "What the sources of sediment are, and to specifically identify what needs to be done to prevent creating additional sources."

He added more data would help to ensure the project complies with the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act. The Forest Service maintains the project would improve forest health and future wildlife habitat, and be a source of future commercial timber sales and economic development.

Kent Karricker, board member and public lands committee chair for the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said in the past, the Forest Service has done a good job of closing up paths used by loggers to move heavy machinery and timber.

"It's an issue we've been working with the Forest Service on for some time," Karricker noted. "They've been doing a lot of good work as well, decommissioning old skid routes."

Karricker believes the potential increase in sediment from the project could compromise critical habitat.

"Show us the evidence that this is going to work as planned," Karricker urged. "And if it's not going to work as planned, show us some protection measures that are going to mitigate or eliminate these impacts."

Webb argued West Virginians could benefit from a balanced approach to managing the state's national forests.

"The national forests are the best of what remains of our natural wild landscape," Webb pointed out. "Many species depend on that, and they're disappearing. Both the brook trout and the candy darter are greatly reduced from their original distribution."

The two species are both native to West Virginia streams.

The hunting of gray wolves from Yellowstone National Park has set off alarm bells for wildlife-related businesses in the region.

Thirty businesses have sent a letter urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to return endangered-species protections to gray wolves.

Cara McGary, owner and lead guide of In Our Nature Guiding Services in Gardiner, said some wolves recently killed were from a pack she has been watching on her wildlife tours.

"They kind of went on a wander, and two of those puppies were killed just over the boundary of the park," McGary explained. "So it's frustrating from a business perspective as well as from kind of a personal perspective."

New laws in Montana and Idaho allow for the killing of 85% and 90%, respectively, of the states' wolf populations. Twenty wolves from Yellowstone have been killed in recent months, the most since the species was reintroduced 25 years ago, according to park officials. In September, federal officials said they would review whether protections should be restored for gray wolves.

Nathan Varley, a wildlife biologist and co-owner of the Gardiner-based Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, said he and other businesses have tried to convince Montana officials to reinstate hunting quotas near the park, which were limited because wolves are important for the tourism industry.

"This past year they just lifted those quotas," Varley pointed out. "That's allowed for this very high -- actually historic -- number of wolves being taken from what we consider to be park packs, the ones that we rely on."

Varley added he signed the letter to Haaland because of Montana's unresponsiveness to businesses' concerns.

McGary is a former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee. She emphasized it is not her preference to have to go to the federal government to ask for endangered-species protections for gray wolves, noting it could erode the relationships built in the region.

"I'm disappointed that the state of Montana has made decisions that's put us in this place," McGary stated. "But we need intervention, so that's why I signed on personally."

Businesses near Yellowstone have organized the Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition to promote management practices allowing for coexistence with wildlife.

The Maine Bird Atlas is in its fourth year out of five, an effort to document the abundance and distribution of the state's wintering and breeding bird species.

It is what's known as a "citizen science project," meaning Maine residents are being asked to report the species and location of wintering bird sightings this season, and then next summer, breeding bird sightings.

Adrienne Leppold, wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and director of the Maine Bird Atlas, said the information will benefit generations of Mainers and Maine birds.

"A comprehensive survey like this for winter birds across the entire state has never been done," Leppold explained. "We have some baseline information on breeding birds that was collected in the late 70s."

She added the new information will allow them to compare, and see what has changed in the last 30-plus years since the last breeding bird survey, as well as to finally document abundance and distribution information for wintering birds. Maine is home to more than 190 winter species.

Leppold noted tracking and mapping Maine's birds is a major undertaking, and no one or group of biologists could do it without the help of the state's birding community.

She pointed out you do not have to be an expert birder to report a sighting as long as you can identify the species and its location.

"In addition to collecting the scientific data about where birds are, we've kind of built this effort of community and connecting people who are less experienced with people who are more experienced, and just building that passion for nature and birds," Leppold emphasized.

The data collected will be compiled into a resource for birders finding species of interest in the state, and for biologists and conservationists at the local, state, national and even global level.