Wildlife Corridor Feasibility & Funding Strategy

The Challenge

A private landowner in Ohio owns 2.8 acres of high-value green space adjacent to a highway corridor, where Lorain County ranks 7th among Ohio's 88 counties for deer-vehicle collisions, with over 2,169 crashes recorded in just five years. The landowner envisioned building a formal wildlife crossing to connect their property to a 1,500-acre natural reservation, a cornerstone of Ohio's Metroparks system. But transforming that vision into reality required navigating a complex landscape of federal funding programs, state transportation policy, and ecological justification — all without a dedicated state-level wildlife corridor mandate.

The Approach

As the project's fundraising strategist, we led a multi-track effort to position this corridor for funding and stakeholder buy-in:

Research & Ecological Justification
We developed a comprehensive framework report grounding the project in peer-reviewed regional research, federal policy, and national road safety data. The report established that wildlife crossings reduce large-animal collisions by 80–97% on treated highway segments, and that species such as White-tailed Deer, Coyotes, and Red Foxes were already actively navigating the fragmented landscape between the property and the reservation — confirming both the ecological need and the feasibility of a formal crossing structure.

Grant Identification & Funding Strategy
We conducted an exhaustive scan of federal and programmatic funding streams, identifying nine eligible grant programs aligned with the project's scope, including:

• Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program (WCPP) — $350M authorized under the IIJA, directly targeting wildlife-vehicle collision reduction

• Culvert AOP Program — $196M for aquatic organism passage and habitat connectivity

• Bridge Investment Program (BIP) — supporting culvert replacement and environmental mitigation

• INFRA Grants — explicitly listing wildlife crossings as eligible for nationally significant projects

• PROTECT Formula Program — $1.4–1.5B/year for surface transportation resilience, including habitat connectivity

• Additional programs including BUILD/RAISE Grants, Rural Surface Transportation Program, and tribal-eligible funds.

For each program, we mapped out eligibility, match requirements, application timelines, and strategic fit — giving the landowner a clear, prioritized funding roadmap.

Stakeholder Engagement
We initiated direct outreach to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to explore a formal partnership. The engagement provided critical insights into the state's approval process and current program constraints, informing a long-term engagement strategy for future application cycles.

Deliverables

• Full-length framework report covering federal/state regulatory landscape, ecological justification, road safety data, crossing structure typology, and a detailed planning-level budget ($0.5M–$6.2M depending on structure type)

• Project teaser document for stakeholder outreach

• Grant eligibility matrix with 9 programs, deadlines, match requirements, and contacts

• Strategic recommendations for ODOT partnership development

The Outcome

While ODOT was unable to commit to a formal partnership within the initial engagement window, the project achieved its core strategic objective: the landowner now holds a thoroughly researched, grant-ready foundation to pursue funding across multiple federal programs as new application cycles open. The framework report, funding matrix, and stakeholder engagement groundwork position the project for competitive applications in the coming years — with the ecological case, budget framework, and policy alignment already built.

The project also surfaced a broader insight: Ohio currently lacks a dedicated statewide wildlife corridor statute, unlike states such as California and Florida. This positions the landowner's effort not just as a local infrastructure project, but as a potential model for multi-stakeholder habitat connectivity in a state where the policy framework is still emerging.