Post by Swamp Gas on Mar 20, 2006 14:35:08 GMT -5
Excellent idea! There are a few in New Jersey. It saves suffering and death to both animals and humans
www.mvtelegraph.com/195136mtnview07-08-04.htm
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Animal Highway Crossings Discussed
By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
How far-fetched is the idea of a wildlife bridge over or under Interstate 40 near Tijeras?
Mark Watson, habitat specialist for New Mexico Game and Fish, says community support could make it possible.
Speaking to the East Mountain Chamber of Commerce on July 1, Watson explained why a wildlife bridge is necessary and what it will take to get one.
An average of 828 accidents involving automobiles and game animals are reported in New Mexico every year, he said. That average is based on State Police accident reports between 1998 and 2002.
"That's a fraction of what's actually occurring out there because most of those accidents go unreported," Watson said.
While Game and Fish officials are still compiling statistics for accidents in Tijeras Canyon, Watson said a conservative guess would place the numbers "on the order of a dozen to two dozen large animal/vehicle accidents every year."
Tijeras Canyon accidents include mishaps that occur on Old Route 66 as well as the interstate, he said.
Actual animal deaths are "really hard to get a handle on," he said.
Animal/vehicle encounters that end with no immediate animal fatalities or human injuries are the least likely to be reported, Watson said.
An animal might survive a crash and die days or even weeks later from the injuries it sustained.
Most of the accidents involved deer, he said, but a significant number of elk and bear also contributed to the statistics. Antelope and cougars faced death on the highways as well.
But collisions between cars and large animals can also be fatal for humans, he said.
Without providing any numbers for the accidents' human toll, Watson said animal/vehicle accidents "are a serious issue for drivers as well as wildlife."
Divided habitats
Most large animals, he said, are crossing highways because the paved lanes have bisected and broken up what were once large habitats into small "isolated patches."
In Tijeras Canyon, animals have more than just the interstate to negotiate. Old Route 66 and ever-increasing residential development also stand in their way, said Jan Hayes, founder of Sandia Mountain BearWatch and member of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition— a newly formed organization pushing plans for a wildlife crossing in the canyon.
Habitat breakup— whether due to highways; residential, commercial or industrial developments; or natural causes like wildfires or hurricanes— causes the "largest destruction of habitat worldwide," said Watson. "Roads are a primary cause of habitat fragmentation."
Large animals are not the only species affected in an isolated habitat, he said— the whole ecosystem changes and gradually becomes less capable of supporting wildlife.
Subtle changes in temperature and humidity occur and affect the growth of plants used as food and cover for large and small animals, he said.
Undesirable genetic effects also result from an isolated animal population with few mating choices.
"The Sandias are basically becoming an isolated island of habitat," said Watson.
Area 4th on list
A Game and Fish study completed in 2003 ranked I-40 through Tijeras Canyon fourth on the priority list of New Mexico roads needing wildlife crossings.
U.S. Highway 550 from Aztec to the Colorado border was number one.
That highway has already become the state's pilot test site for safer animal crossings, said Watson.
For three miles on either side of U.S. 550, the state Department of Transportation has erected 8-foot tall, deer-proof fencing that guides animals to an enlarged culvert— an 8-foot high, wildlife underpass.
"These have been very successful," Watson said.
Through a 2004 legislative memorial signed by the governor, the transportation department is directed to work with Game and Fish to better protect wildlife on the state's highways, Watson said.
Tijeras Canyon wildlife improvements might be incorporated into highway reconstruction already scheduled for the area, he said, as part of Gov. Bill Richardson's highway improvement plan— GRIP.
Watson said he personally surveyed some of the canyon's existing culverts to see if any of them are already serving wildlife as bridges between the two mountain ranges.
All the culverts are too low to be of much use to deer or elk, he said. These species require at least 8 feet of headroom in a desirable crossing. But he said bears— which will accept a smaller, more cave-like space— are probably using them.
At one point the highway splits and two bridges take traffic across the arroyo. Watson said he considers this a very good area for wildlife to cross, but it will shortly be completely cut off by a residential development on the south side.
The isolation of Sandia/Manzano wildlife presents a problem to more people and animals than just the local populations, Hayes said.
Hayes also works with the Wildlands Project, a joint effort of conservation groups attempting to save "wildlife linkages along the spine of the continent," she said.
"This is not only about Tijeras Canyon, it's about trying to link throughout the Rocky Mountains," she said.
The blocking of Tijeras Canyon wildlife passages to "two major mountain ranges" is a big problem, she said.
The safe passage coalition will meet Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Sandia Ranger Station in Tijeras.
www.mvtelegraph.com/195136mtnview07-08-04.htm
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Animal Highway Crossings Discussed
By Kathy Louise Schuit
Mountain View Telegraph
How far-fetched is the idea of a wildlife bridge over or under Interstate 40 near Tijeras?
Mark Watson, habitat specialist for New Mexico Game and Fish, says community support could make it possible.
Speaking to the East Mountain Chamber of Commerce on July 1, Watson explained why a wildlife bridge is necessary and what it will take to get one.
An average of 828 accidents involving automobiles and game animals are reported in New Mexico every year, he said. That average is based on State Police accident reports between 1998 and 2002.
"That's a fraction of what's actually occurring out there because most of those accidents go unreported," Watson said.
While Game and Fish officials are still compiling statistics for accidents in Tijeras Canyon, Watson said a conservative guess would place the numbers "on the order of a dozen to two dozen large animal/vehicle accidents every year."
Tijeras Canyon accidents include mishaps that occur on Old Route 66 as well as the interstate, he said.
Actual animal deaths are "really hard to get a handle on," he said.
Animal/vehicle encounters that end with no immediate animal fatalities or human injuries are the least likely to be reported, Watson said.
An animal might survive a crash and die days or even weeks later from the injuries it sustained.
Most of the accidents involved deer, he said, but a significant number of elk and bear also contributed to the statistics. Antelope and cougars faced death on the highways as well.
But collisions between cars and large animals can also be fatal for humans, he said.
Without providing any numbers for the accidents' human toll, Watson said animal/vehicle accidents "are a serious issue for drivers as well as wildlife."
Divided habitats
Most large animals, he said, are crossing highways because the paved lanes have bisected and broken up what were once large habitats into small "isolated patches."
In Tijeras Canyon, animals have more than just the interstate to negotiate. Old Route 66 and ever-increasing residential development also stand in their way, said Jan Hayes, founder of Sandia Mountain BearWatch and member of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition— a newly formed organization pushing plans for a wildlife crossing in the canyon.
Habitat breakup— whether due to highways; residential, commercial or industrial developments; or natural causes like wildfires or hurricanes— causes the "largest destruction of habitat worldwide," said Watson. "Roads are a primary cause of habitat fragmentation."
Large animals are not the only species affected in an isolated habitat, he said— the whole ecosystem changes and gradually becomes less capable of supporting wildlife.
Subtle changes in temperature and humidity occur and affect the growth of plants used as food and cover for large and small animals, he said.
Undesirable genetic effects also result from an isolated animal population with few mating choices.
"The Sandias are basically becoming an isolated island of habitat," said Watson.
Area 4th on list
A Game and Fish study completed in 2003 ranked I-40 through Tijeras Canyon fourth on the priority list of New Mexico roads needing wildlife crossings.
U.S. Highway 550 from Aztec to the Colorado border was number one.
That highway has already become the state's pilot test site for safer animal crossings, said Watson.
For three miles on either side of U.S. 550, the state Department of Transportation has erected 8-foot tall, deer-proof fencing that guides animals to an enlarged culvert— an 8-foot high, wildlife underpass.
"These have been very successful," Watson said.
Through a 2004 legislative memorial signed by the governor, the transportation department is directed to work with Game and Fish to better protect wildlife on the state's highways, Watson said.
Tijeras Canyon wildlife improvements might be incorporated into highway reconstruction already scheduled for the area, he said, as part of Gov. Bill Richardson's highway improvement plan— GRIP.
Watson said he personally surveyed some of the canyon's existing culverts to see if any of them are already serving wildlife as bridges between the two mountain ranges.
All the culverts are too low to be of much use to deer or elk, he said. These species require at least 8 feet of headroom in a desirable crossing. But he said bears— which will accept a smaller, more cave-like space— are probably using them.
At one point the highway splits and two bridges take traffic across the arroyo. Watson said he considers this a very good area for wildlife to cross, but it will shortly be completely cut off by a residential development on the south side.
The isolation of Sandia/Manzano wildlife presents a problem to more people and animals than just the local populations, Hayes said.
Hayes also works with the Wildlands Project, a joint effort of conservation groups attempting to save "wildlife linkages along the spine of the continent," she said.
"This is not only about Tijeras Canyon, it's about trying to link throughout the Rocky Mountains," she said.
The blocking of Tijeras Canyon wildlife passages to "two major mountain ranges" is a big problem, she said.
The safe passage coalition will meet Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Sandia Ranger Station in Tijeras.
