"Reche Vista Drive and Reche Canyon Road Petition" 
  
Moreno Valley, Riverside County and San Bernardino County is home to an abundance of wildlife, we have bobcats, coyotes, mountain lions, badgers, deer, long horn sheep and wild burros, just to name a few. Wildlife is always on the move and traveling. The road projects have a tremendous impact on our local wildlife that freely roam throughout the canyons. If we prevent the wildlife from safely moving from one side of the road to the other side, then we are blocking their ability to find food, water sources, places to live or to find new mates and have a diversity in the population. We need to find a solution that will move people and wildlife safely.
 
Due to the increased volume of traffic this is a very dangerous situation that needs to be addressed. Instead of just improving the roads and moving more traffic into the canyons with fast speeds on dark, unlit, windy roads.
 
Reche Vista Drive realignment project is pushing more traffic onto Reche Canyon Road, the heart of our wildlife. Once known as a rural secluded country canyon now is called a dangerous canyon of death by many residents, however, the narrow road that features many blind turns was just not designed to handle so much traffic. Poorly designed roadways can serve as barriers that hinder wildlife movement and result in more vehicle collisions, with injury or death to humans and wildlife. By establishing safe wildlife crossings under and/or over this will help maintain habitat connectivity and aid in reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, especially when combined with fences.
 
Why have you not considered wildlife over passes and under passes that are built properly, with vegetated area to encourage and invite both small and large species of wildlife to cross safely as opposed to using the roads where cars are going too fast to even stop? This would also benefit children and horseback riders who have never had a safe place to cross yet these canyons are rural areas.
 
If human and wildlife fatalities are already taking place on a regular basis - how many more tragedies and fatalities will be the result, before change takes place?  
 
The answer is NOT removing our wildlife it is to co-exist with them by helping to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths by making changes for a safer Community. 
 
Please don't be negligent and fail your Community by making the appropriate improvements and changes that can be life or death.
 
We are not asking you to stop your projects, we are asking you to help make it a safer Community for everyone. We trust YOU to Help keep us SAFE and we are asking for:
 
* wildlife over passes and under passes strategically placed and properly constructed for both our local wildlife, as well as horseback riders.
 
* we plead with you to provide street lights in these dark, rural, windy roads in the canyons
 
* pedestrian and equestrian crossings 
including a raised button for horseback riders
 
* bicycle lanes
 
* safety fences and lights
 
* double flashing burro crossing signage
  
* lowered speed limits in a rural area that will aid in reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions where accidents frequently occur 
 
* walking/hiking/equestrian fenced trails
 
Please take the time to watch our video to hear what our local residents have to say, thank you!