Animal Vehicle Collisions And Habitat Connectivity Along Montana Highway 83 In The Seeley Swan Valley Montana

Montana Highway 83 in northwestern Montana, USA, is known for its great number of animal vehicle collisions, mostly with white tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This document reports on the first phase of an effort to produce an effective implementation plan that has broad support from natural resource management agencies as well as the local community. Phase 1 is aimed at acquiring information and at identifying potential additional research and resource needs. This document identifies and ranks high frequency zones for white tailed deer vehicle collisions, identifies road and landscape characteristics associated with white tailed deer vehicle collisions, identifies and ranks (additional) habitat linkage zones based on expert knowledge, and identifies and documents additional research and resource needs that may need to be addressed before proceeding with the following phases of an effort to produce an effective implementation plan that has broad support.

Safe Passages brings together in a single volume the latest information on the emerging science of road ecology as it relates to mitigating interactions between roads and wildlife. This practical handbook of tools and examples is designed to assist individuals and organizations thinking about or working toward reducing road-wildlife impacts. The book provides: an overview of the importance of habitat connectivity with regard to roads current planning approaches and technologies for mitigating the impacts of highways on both terrestrial and aquatic species different facets of public participation in highway-wildlife connectivity mitigation projects case studies from partnerships across North America that highlight successful on-the-ground implementation of ecological and engineering solutions recent innovative highway-wildlife mitigation developments Detailed case studies span a range of scales, from site-specific wildlife crossing structures, to statewide planning for habitat connectivity, to national legislation. Contributors explore the cooperative efforts that are emerging as a result of diverse organizations—including transportation agencies, land and wildlife management agencies, and nongovernmental organizations—finding common ground to tackle important road ecology issues and problems. Safe Passages is an important new resource for local-, state-, and national-level managers and policymakers working on road-wildlife issues, and will appeal to a broad audience including scientists, agency personnel, planners, land managers, transportation consultants, students, conservation organizations, policymakers, and citizens engaged in road-wildlife mitigation projects.

NCHRP synthesis 370 examines the extent to which data from animal-vehicle collision accident reports and animal carcass counts are collected, analyzed, and used throughout the United States and Canada.

The US 93 reconstruction project on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwest Montana represents one of the most extensive wildlife sensitive highway design efforts to occur in the continental United States. The reconstruction will include installations of 42 fish and wildlife crossing structures and approximately 15 mi (24 km) of wildlife exclusion fencing for a total investment of over 9 million dollars. This report documents the success of using a context sensitive approach to collaboratively redesign a rural highway within a multiple use landscape that accommodates the needs and concerns of different institutions, cultures and priorities. Further, this report introduces baseline field data collection methods and results that are being used to evaluate how the wildlife crossing structures and wildlife fencing affect deer and bear vehicle collisions and movements in a multiple use rural landscape. The preconstruction data summarized here, and in combination with complementary post construction data, will address the following goals of the evaluation study: (1) determine what effect US 93 wildlife crossing structures and fencing have on the frequency of animal vehicle collisions and successful animal highway crossings; (2) document the design decision making processes and lessons learned as a case study; and (3) identify best management practices and further research. These issues are addressed via a literature review of important considerations related to locating, designing, and evaluating the effectiveness of wildlife crossings and exclusion fencing; a case study and project history; summary and synthesis of field data collection efforts; overview of other relevant and repeatable field studies; and a discussion about the measures of effectiveness and post-construction data collection recommendations. The ultimate value of the information in this report will be realized when the reconstruction is complete and post construction field data is collected to comparatively assess the effect of the wildlife mitigation on the parameters of interest identified in the goals. Perhaps one of the most important insights gained from the preconstruction research is that, due to the myriad sources of unquantifiable variation in the environment, many years of monitoring are necessary to make valid inferences. Given the paucity of long term, before after field studies assessing the effects of wildlife exclusion fencing and crossing structures on wildlife and driver safety, the US 93 wildlife mitigation evaluation, when completed, will provide useful results, lessons learned, and best management practices to guide other wildlife mitigation efforts in the future.

TRB¿s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 615: Evaluation of the Use and Effectiveness of Wildlife Crossings explores development of an interactive, web-based decision guide protocol for the selection, configuration, and location of wildlife crossings.

This report reviews 39 mitigation measures that reduce animal vehicle collisions and that provide habitat connectivity for wildlife across highways. The overview is restricted to mitigation measures aimed at large terrestrial mammals (deer size and larger). However, this report also includes information regarding how such measures may affect or benefit federally endangered or threatened species in Montana, regardless of their size. In addition to the detailed information for each mitigation measure, a summary table is provided that provides at a glance information on the costs and benefits of the individual mitigation measures for which such data were available. Furthermore, the report graphically illustrates which measures have the best monetary balance (the difference between benefits and costs) and which measures reduce animal vehicle collisions and associated costs best. Based on the results, the authors of this report identified wildlife fencing, with or without wildlife underpasses or a combination of wildlife underpasses and overpasses, and animal detection systems with wildlife fencing, as the most cost effective mitigation measures. Animal detection systems without wildlife fences or wildlife fences with a high density of wildlife overpasses are also cost effective, but more data on system effectiveness are needed before these systems are recommended for implementation rather than further study. The final section of the report provides suggestions on the implementation or study for each of the 39 mitigation measures.