Focus Area: Wildlife

Benefits of Wildlife Crossings Touted in New Video

Posted on August 27th, 2017

Vox Media has produced a new video about wildlife crossing structures, which it released to its news website Vox.com last week.  “Wildlife crossings stop roadkill. Why aren’t there more?” is a six-minute video that introduces why wildlife crossings are needed, how they work, where they are currently used, and how effective they are. Much of the foundational information and data about wildlife vehicle collisions is attributed to the 2008 National Wildlife Vehicle Collision Reduction Study and Report to Congress, which was authored by WTI’s Marcel Huijser, Pat McGowen, Tony Clevenger, Rob Ament, and additional researchers from the WTI Road Ecology program. Also, Tony Clevenger is interviewed on-camera in the video about the successful wildlife crossing structures in Banff National Park.  The video is available to view on the vox.com website.

https://www.vox.com/videos/2017/7/3/15914648/wildlife-crossings-roadkill-highway-design

Wall Street Journal Focuses on Wildlife Crossing Structure Advancements

Posted on June 26th, 2017

In a recent article, the Wall Street Journal interviewed WTI Research Ecologist Marcel Huijser about the wildlife crossing structures on U.S. 93 in Montana, and how roadkill numbers for large mammals have dropped by as much as 80% near highway sections served by these crossings.  “Wildlife Crossings Get a Whole New Look” highlights WTI’s evaluation of the U.S. 93 crossing structures, and includes one of Marcel’s photos.  The article also describes other recent and planned crossing structures in Wyoming, Washington, California and Louisiana.  Read the whole article on the WSJ website.

Road Ecology researcher, Rob Ament invited to India.

Posted on May 22nd, 2017

India-Two tigers stand by puddle in middle of dirt road
India-Two tigers lay by puddle in middle of dirt roadRob Ament has just returned from a week long meeting in India hosted by the Science for Nature and People Partnership (SNAPP). India currently faces numerous wildlife protection challenges; for example, protected areas are often too small to support viable populations of wide-ranging species, such as elephants and tigers, especially if highways and other development severs habitat connectivity between protected areas.  Rob was invited by the Landscape Connectivity in India Working Group to give a presentation and provide his expertise for the workshop, during which participants developed strategies to address the impact of transportation systems on ecological connectivity surrounding various protected areas in the region.

The workshop was held near Nagarhole National Park in the Western Ghats mountain range (a UNESCO World Heritage site) of southwest India. Rob shared these photos from his amazing wildlife viewing opportunity within the National Park.