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Conservation Threat: A Growing Transportation Infrastructure and Habitat Fragmentation Highways impact wildlife by inhibiting movements, restricting genetic exchange, and causing mortality that can impact population viability. When wildlife move across roadways, animal-vehicle collisions can become a safety and maintenance challenge for Departments of Transportation cause injury and fatalities to drivers. The magnitude of these impacts and the costs to drivers, transportation agencies, and wildlife is important to understand. Construction of wildlife crossings is one approach to mitigating these impacts.
Transportation engineers, research scientists, and planners across the United States and Canada are in various stages of addressing these challenges. These experts have experience and insight into conducting statewide connectivity analyses as well as designing, constructing, and monitoring wildlife crossing structures in the field. Because of the complexity of the issue, and the broad geographic range where work is being completed, bringing together an interdisciplinary group of experts at a field course gives participants a chance to come together and learn from eachother's experiences. It is also an amazing way to harness the current knowledge and expertise of the leaders in this field. The first-ever wildlife crossings field course to be held in the United States was in Payson, Arizona in 2005 and was a great success. The course drew a total of 138 participants from 16 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces, including biologists, engineers, consultants, agency officials, non-profits and foundations, as well as delegates from FHWA headquarters, division offices and state transportation agencies. The course truly made an impact on the attendees, who then brought their increased knowledge and enthusiasm back to their own states and provinces. Participants were so pleased with the course that they expressed an interest in having similar courses every other year. Once the course was completed, we also saw a renewed commitment by ADOT, AZ Fish and Game, and the Forest Service due in part to the tremendous acknowledgement and positive reinforcement they received by the course being held along SR 260. The course also drew support from a diversity of foundations, sponsors and agencies. By reaching out to a variety of organizations, we increased the overall support and dialogue for the international effort underway to restore and maintain habitat connectivity for wildlife. Sponsors and supporters included the Wilburforce Foundation, Henry P. Kendall Foundation, Forest Service, Federal Highway Administration, ADOT and many others. Courses are designed to be complimentary to the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET) held every other year. The SREP field courses are held every other year from ICOET to provide an additional education forum for attendees of both conferences. The next field course is planned for 2008 in Hyak, Washington and will provide a forum for detailed discussion about the planning, construction and monitoring of wildlife crossings in a small setting where increased dialogue, networking, and brainstorming can occur among participants.
Washington Wildlife Crossings Field
Course - Roslyn, WA 2008 Rockies Wildlife Crossings Field Course - Payson, AZ 2005
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