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Cars have gotten safer in the last 50 years. Auto manufacturers and government regulators have spent a lot of time working on making it safer to drive.

But the best way to be safe in a car is to not crash in the first place.

In Colorado, there are thousands of vehicle collisions with wildlife every year. Roads fragment habitat and migration patterns, forcing wildlife to try to get across busy highways — often resulting in tragic outcomes for people and wildlife. Even mild collisions are very expensive for the state and nearby communities. The average cost of hitting a mule deer is over $23,000.

Fortunately, there is a commonsense solution that protects both drivers and animals: wildlife crossings.

In 2026, WRA helped pass bipartisan legislation that will reduce the number of collisions in Colorado by building more crossings.

The benefits of preventing wildlife-vehicle collisions go far beyond safety. Wildlife crossings also connect critical habitat and safeguard ecological resilience, helping the West's unique species thrive even in a changing climate. With more funding, Colorado and states in the West can do even more to protect our communities and wildlife populations.

We talked to an expert to learn all about it.

Welcome back to our series about conservation funding in the West. In these episodes, we're exploring how the West can protect our wildlife, support our ecosystems, and make outdoor recreation accessible to everyone.

2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West.

On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

It is Hosted by Dave Papineau

Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West?

• Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org.
• Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram.
• Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes.
• Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West.
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If you live in the West, you've experienced the impacts of wildfire. In the last few decades, as the effects of climate change, unhealthy forests, and a drier west merge together, catastrophic wildfires have become a significant part of our lives.

Communities across the West are threatened by massive, out-of-control wildfires. We're seeing wildfires outside of what we used to consider “wildfire season,” and those fires are burning hotter, faster, and longer than they used to.

Headline-making catastrophes like the Marshall Fire in Boulder or the Palisade Fires in Los Angeles, which both ignited during the winter, have shown us that the idea of a “wildfire season” isn't realistic anymore.

Colorado has over 14 million acres of national forest. Managing and protecting all of that from wildfire is complicated and challenging. Those national forests cover recreation areas, wildlife habitat, irreplaceable wilderness— and they border our homes and communities.

Wildfire is often misunderstood, even within the environmental community. As out-of-control wildfire becomes a more present threat , communities are having to learn to adapt. This means better understanding how fire actually works in the West, the threats and the benefits it brings, and how we can best limit risk and protect our communities.

To help clear up some of those wildfire misconceptions, we talked to WRA’s resident wildfire policy expert.

In this new podcast series, we are exploring the different threats to public land in the West and how we can conserve it for the future. We will be covering wildfire, wildlife, recreation, and the threats of new development.

2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West.

On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

It is Hosted by Dave Papineau

Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West?

• Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org.
• Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram.
• Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes.
• Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West.
• ...

Running Up For Air – Why These Runners Ran Until They Couldn’t

In the West, we are on the front lines of air pollution. Major western cities like Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Reno regularly rank among the worst in the entire country for particle and ozone pollution.
The people who live in our region are noticing.
The Running Up for Air race series is an event that challenges participants to put their fitness endurance to the test in the name of air quality.
The event began on Grandeur Peak in the Wasatch Mountains above Salt Lake City. Participants ran up the peak, overlooking the pollution from over 8,000 ft above sea level. In the winter the smog above the Wasatch front is often some of the worst in the country. During the race runners got first-hand experience with the poor air quality of their home as they ran up above the air pollution and then descend back into it.
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Now the event has spread to several areas across the West. It raises awareness and money for air pollution in key cities.
WRA was present to help crew one of the sponsored events run by Suffer Better in Staunton State Park, Colorado.
On this episode of Two Degrees Out West – Why air pollution is a crisis in the West, the runners that were inspired to run until they couldn't in the name of addressing air pollution, and how you can add your voice to the fight for clean air.

Learn more below!

https://westernresourceadvocates.org/

2 Degrees Out West is a podcast from Western Resource Advocates, an environmental conservation organization that's focused on the Interior West. WRA works across seven states to protect our climate, land, air, and water. WRA protects and advocates for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming.

2 Degrees out West is a podcast for advocates and decision makers who want to fight climate change and its impacts across the West.

On 2 Degrees Out West we talk with climate experts and advocates to bring you stories, experiences, and insights from their work in the places we call home.

It is Hosted by Dave Papineau

Want to be part of 2 Degrees Out West?

• Email us with thoughts, suggestions, and interviewees at dave.papineau@westernresources.org.
• Follow us @westernresourceadvocates on Instagram.
• Create a clip sharing "our Bright Climate Future for the West" and send it to us at dave.papineau@westernresources.org. to be included in one of our next episodes.
• Join our email list to stay updated on when new episodes are released and calls to action on how you can help the West.
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