The Push For an I-5 Wildlife Over-Crossing to Reconnect the Cascades and Olympics

At the 2026 Conservation Northwest Auction, our new video was revealed. With it came the news for an exciting conservation effort in the works: working with partners like WSDOT, WDFW, local land trusts and the Rochester, WA, community to build an over-crossing on I-5 which would reconnect wildlife corridors between the Cascades and Olympic mountains! In addition was a heartwarming story of good will as in the process of securing land on either side of the highway for wildlife access, the descendants of a homestead family returned their family land to the original inhabitants, the Chehalis Tribe, through a Conservation Northwest brokered arrangement. Watch this video to see how the story unfolded, and what needs to happen next.

Artist’s rendition of a wildlife over-crossing on I-5 where the proposed structure would be built