EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — If you’re driving down Cory B. Wride Memorial Highway in Eagle Mountain and turn your head to the side, you might see two deer standing in a field.
Their names are "Jane" and "Jill." They're fake deer, but there's a very real reason they're here, said Todd Black, Wildlife Biologist and Environmental Planner with Eagle Mountain City.
“I love mule deer," said Black. "It goes 'the lord, my family, and mule deer.'”
“Lots of deer across North America get whacked on the roads every year," he said. "Thousands, if not millions of dollars of damage to vehicles, and heaven forbid somebody loses their life over that.”
Over the past year, UDOT built fencing along a stretch of SR-73, leaving an opening where deer could cross altogether. Black had the idea to put the deer decoys in a few months ago to clearly direct deer to cross the highway in the same spot.
“It worked," Black said. "Those tracks came right over to these deer, and we had some feed out here, and once they got here they kind of navigated out and figured where to go.”
Now, Eagle mountain is putting in new technology so that drivers will know exactly where to slow down. Tim Hazlehurst, President of Crosstek Electrified Barriers, is installing Utah’s first wildlife-radar detection system. Through thermal imaging scanning a wide area, warning lights will automatically go off at both ends of the highway near the crossing
"The warnings only on when animals are actually crossing," said Hazlehurst. "We finally get better driver response, drivers slowing down, paying attention, and we don't get as many wildlife-vehicle collisions.”
The winter migration is officially over now; Black took the deer decoys into hibernation Wednesday afternoon. He’ll place them on the other side of the highway in a few months when it’s time for the deer to migrate back to Camp Williams and the Oquirrh Mountains.
