PRESS RELEASE: Coalition Announces Upcoming Implementation of Flume Creek Wildlife Tunnel
Released on October 1, 2026
After several years of organizing, analysis, and design, a coalition of organizations and state agencies announces the upcoming implementation of the Flume Creek Wildlife Tunnel, a project designed to provide safer passage for wildlife beneath Interstate 5 in Northern California.
Caltrans, the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), and KS Connectivity identified the need for a wildlife crossing in this area due to heavy traffic on Interstate 5 and significant wildlife presence and movement between Mount Shasta and Redding, California.
The Flume Creek Wildlife Tunnel will provide wildlife with a safe passage between habitat on the west side of the highway—including Castle Crags State Park and the Marble Mountain and Trinity Alps Wilderness areas—and habitat on the east side, including Lassen National Park and the Great Basin.
According to Spencer Lennard, coordinator of the KS Connectivity Project, “Wildlife crossing this section of the Interstate 5 corridor is both a safety risk to drivers and a safety threat to critters attempting to cross the busy freeway.”
This section of I-5 is winding and mountainous, with limited visibility due to the rugged terrain. Wildlife is abundant in the area, increasing the potential for wildlife-vehicle collisions. Because of the frequency of these collisions, Caltrans has previously posted warning signs depicting a family of black bears along this section of Interstate 5.
A 2025 report prepared for Caltrans identified the “Essential Connectivity Areas of California” by analyzing “intact landscape blocks” and determining where wildlife is most adversely affected by highways and other barriers to movement. The Flume Creek area provides an important biological linkage between the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains, the Cascades, and the Modoc Plateau. Interstate 5 south of Mount Shasta and north of Redding represents a significant impediment to wildlife movement and has been identified as a wildlife mortality hotspot.
The project will consist of a 12-foot-wide by 12-foot-tall reinforced-concrete box culvert beneath Interstate 5 at post mile 65.88, along with approximately 7-foot-tall wildlife fencing designed to guide animals toward the crossing.
The fencing will extend along the west side of the Interstate from approximately post mile 65.45 to post mile 66.17 and along the east side from approximately post mile 65.45 to post mile 66.10. The fencing will include jump-outs, which allow animals that have entered the highway corridor to escape back into surrounding habitat. A median barrier will also include intermittent gaps to allow wildlife to exit the roadway. Together, these features are designed to reduce the potential for wildlife to become trapped on the highway and to increase the effectiveness of the crossing system.
Construction of the tunnel is planned to be implemented in the summer of 2027.
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