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USFWS
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Conservation Technology Partner

The Alignment

Roads Are the
Front Line of Extinction

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service administers the Endangered Species Act and manages the National Wildlife Refuge system — and the species it protects face one of their most persistent threats at the road's edge.

Highway mortality contributes to the fragmentation of wildlife populations, disrupts migration and breeding corridors, and in some cases represents a significant driver of local extinction risk for federally listed species.

Ætheris provides USFWS with something that has never existed before: real-time collision prevention plus longitudinal corridor intelligence — the data to understand where species are, when they're at risk, and whether intervention is working.


The Stakes

Species That Need
Sentinel Protection

Examples of the federally listed and at-risk species for which Ætheris corridor deployments provide direct protection — detected, warned against, and tracked in real time.

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Gopher Tortoise
Candidate Species
Slow-moving and highly vulnerable to vehicle strikes. Thermal detection at road crossings provides advance warning to drivers in key Southeast corridor habitats.
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Florida Key Deer
Threatened
Road mortality is a leading cause of death for this island-endemic subspecies. Highway detection on US-1 corridors through the Florida Keys is a high-priority deployment target.
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Ocelot
Endangered
Fewer than 80 individuals remain in the U.S., concentrated in South Texas. Highway mortality in the Laguna Atascosa corridor is an identified population-level threat.
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Florida Black Bear
State Threatened
Vehicle strikes are the number one cause of human-caused mortality. Thermal detection in I-4 and US-27 corridors directly addresses USFWS recovery plan priorities.
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Indigo Snake
Threatened
Road mortality is a primary threat in Florida and Georgia. Acoustic and thermal detection can identify large reptiles at road crossings in known indigo snake habitat.
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Golden Eagle
Protected / BCT Act
Highway right-of-way foraging exposes eagles to vehicle strikes. Detection of large birds near road surfaces triggers driver warnings in raptor corridor zones.

What Ætheris Brings

Our Offer to USFWS

Conservation technology that works at highway speed — detecting, protecting, and documenting species in real time while building the long-term data record USFWS needs for recovery planning.

Detection

Species-Level Classification

On-device AI classifies detected animals against a library of 47+ species — distinguishing deer from bear from tortoise — enabling targeted alerting and species-specific data collection relevant to recovery mandates.

Prevention

Real-Time Collision Prevention

PathSign alerts fire the moment a species is confirmed near the road — giving approaching drivers the warning needed to slow or stop before a strike. Every prevented collision is a conservation win.

Intelligence

Longitudinal Corridor Movement Data

Every detection event builds a long-term record of species movement patterns — when, where, how frequently, and which species are crossing. Data that has never existed for most U.S. wildlife corridors.

Research

Migration & Habitat Fragmentation Analysis

Corridor event data supports analysis of habitat connectivity, migration timing, and fragmentation effects — informing USFWS recovery planning, wildlife crossing site selection, and habitat corridor prioritization.

Integration

Wildlife Database Connectivity

CorridorLink's open API can integrate with USFWS wildlife databases and tracking systems — feeding Ætheris detection data into existing species monitoring frameworks without data duplication.

Adaptability

Custom Species Training

Species classification models can be trained and deployed for specific at-risk species within weeks — allowing USFWS to prioritize detection for locally critical species in any new corridor deployment.


What USFWS Brings

What This Partnership
Unlocks for Both Sides

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Conservation Technology Funding

USFWS administers conservation technology grants and cooperative agreement funding — providing financial pathways for Ætheris deployment in national wildlife refuge corridors and critical habitat zones.

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Priority Habitat Corridor Data

USFWS maintains the most comprehensive data on critical habitat designations and movement corridors in the country — enabling Ætheris to deploy where conservation impact is greatest.

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Wildlife Biology Expertise

USFWS field biologists bring species-specific knowledge that improves Ætheris detection models — understanding how specific species move, when they cross, and what triggers crossing behavior.

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National Wildlife Refuge Access

NWR boundary roads adjacent to refuges are high-priority deployment sites. USFWS partnership facilitates access and coordination for refuge-adjacent highway corridor installations.

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Tribal Nation Relationships

USFWS's established relationships with tribal nations — who manage lands that cross some of the most critical wildlife corridors — create a trusted pathway for Ætheris deployment on tribal highways.

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Conservation Community Credibility

USFWS partnership signals to the broader conservation community that Ætheris is a trusted, mission-aligned technology — opening relationships with NGOs, land trusts, and conservation advocates.

Begin the Conversation

Every Species We Detect
Is One We Protect

We're seeking USFWS partnership to deploy Sentinels of the Wild in priority habitat corridors and build the species movement database that conservation planning has always needed.