On Wednesday, Oct. 22, Environmental Club speaker John Kronholm spoke with students about his work creating wildlife crossings on Colorado’s I-70 Vail Pass. This event is part of the environmental guest speaker series hosted typically once a month.
SPF was fortunate that Kronholm offered his time to discuss with students via video call and educate them on the project. Along with a slideshow presentation, Kronholm encouragedstudents to apply their knowledge from classes.
Kronholm is the project manager who is currently running an environmental assessment to counteract the problems that arise between wildlife and humans on the highway.
During the meeting, Kronholm discussed these problems. The highway proposes many challenges for wildlife populations, car collisions being the most prominent.
“I learned the importance of the wildlife crossings is to keep motor collision accidents and wildlife casualties at a minimum,” junior Jordin Iazzetti told The Fanscotian.
Additionally, the barrier that the highway imposes disrupts the natural movement of wildlife populations such as elk, moose and foxes. This disturbs the natural process called gene flow which is crucial to a thriving ecosystem.
“The goal with the wildlife crossing is to promote gene flow, but there was an economical benefit because there’s less fatalities going on,” AP Environmental Science teacher Zachary Rittner said.
Kronholm’s presentation provided students with valuable knowledge of the real-world applications from their environmental classes such as wildlife conservation. Events like these are a great opportunity to widen student’s perspectives and promote education in environmental awareness.
