There have been thirteen biennial International Conferences on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET) since its origin in 1999. The most recent conference was in June of 2023 in Burlington, Vermont and was a combination of in person and virtual.  This pooled fund will support the next conference in 2025 in May that will be an in-person conference in Denver, Colorado cohosted by the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Department and organized by the University of California Davis Road Ecology Center.  There will be a virtual conference option available.

ICOET continues to serve as an invaluable conduit for transportation and ecology professionals to share applicable research and best practices, and to transfer knowledge between experienced practitioners and future leaders.

The ICOET program includes podium presentations, posters on current research, panels, workshops, field trips, and exhibits on topics of interest to researchers, biologists, engineers, planners, project managers, administrators, and policy makers. The folks that regularly attend ICOET represent thousands of professionals that work for government, Tribal, academic, non-governmental and private industry from the United States and other countries. The 2023 conference had 493 total participants with 354 in person and another 139 virtual participants.  There were 18 countries, 44 U.S. states, and 2 Canadian provinces in attendance.

This new pooled fund will supersede the previous pooled fund (TPF 5-499) that will be completed December 31, 2023.

Provide one ICOET Conference in May of 2025 for communication, technology transfer and information sharing among transportation professionals on ecology issues and transportation. The ICOET Conference will be in Colorado from May 11-15, 2025, cohosted by the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Department, with support from FHWA and organized by the Road Ecology Center at Davis.  There will also be a hybrid component to the conference that folks can attend virtually.

Building on the 2023 ICOET Conference this 14th biennial conference in 2025 will:

• Bring experts around the world to exchange knowledge & best practices on the interrelationship of ecology & transportation.

• The sharing of ideas through presentations, panel discussion, breaks, lunches, receptions, and field trips.

• Expand the shared knowledge and learn about the cutting edge of science on the topic of ecology and transportation.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will serve as the lead state to carry out this pooled fund. The Road Ecology Center at UC Davis will organize the ICOET conference for 2025. The ICOET Steering Committee and FHWA will be assisting WSDOT and the  Road Ecology Center in support of the ICOET Conference.

Project Team:

Contract Manager: Jon Peterson, WSDOT Research & Library Services, peterjn@wsdot.wa.gov, (360) 705-7499

Technical Lead: Jeff Dreier, WSDOT Fish & Wildlife Program Manager, drierj@wsdot.wa.gov, (360) 705-7254

Each pooled fund partner agency will have one representative on the Pooled Fund Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) and as such will be a partner in TAC conference calls. The TAC conference calls will serve to update the partners on the planning activities for the ICOET conference and to collect feedback for the conference planners. The anticipated start date for the pooled fund is July 1, 2024, and the estimated completion date is December 31, 2025.

There is no suggested minimum commitment, however a commitment of $2,000 will allow for 1 free in person registration and a commitment of $1,000 will allow for 1 free virtual registration.   For example, if a partner agency contributes $3,000 that would qualify for a combination of 1 in person registrations and 1 virtual registration or 3 virtual registrations.  Partners may include government agencies, private sector entities and international partners.

The minimum funding required to support this pooled fund is $20,000 from all the partners.