Identification of the Patterns and Processes that Result in Highway Accidents Involving Elk: Informing the Design of Effective Mitigation Strategies in Areas Where Elk is a Dominant Species
Started: April, 2020 End Date: February, 2021 Project ID #4W8373 Status: Ongoing
Objective
The objective of this project is to describe the patterns and processes that result in highway accidents involving elk, in order to provide transportation planners with the design of effective mitigation strategies in areas where elk is a dominant species.
Abstract
Since the mid-1970s, collisions between vehicles and large herbivores on the major roads in Canada's mountain parks have been a concern for Parks Canada management. In response to increase collisions, Parks Canada initiated the construction of wildlife crossing structures and wildlife-exclusion fencing along the Trans Canada Highway (TCH) in the 1980s. These measures have been successful in reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs), but WVCs involving elk (EVCs) in unmitigated areas remain a problem. EVCs contribute to 27% of wildlife related accidents in the Central Canadian Rockies, and are expected to increase as traffic volumes increase.
The objective of this project is to describe the patterns and processes that result in highway accidents involving elk, in order to provide transportation planners with the design of effective mitigation strategies in areas where elk is a dominant species. The research team will explore age and sex patterns in EVCs, demography and condition of elk that were killed, seasonality of EVCs, EVC rates, traffic volumes, elk abundance, and other data to identify patterns and characteristics of these collisions.
Contacts
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Tony Clevenger - PI
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Nova Simpson - Main External Contact
Files & Documents
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A comparison of elk-vehicle collisions patterns with demographic and abundance data in the Central Canadian Rocky Mountains
Document by Download this Document (1.19 MB)
Sponsors & Partners
- Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) Sponsor
Related Information
Part of: Road Ecology, Wildlife
Project Tagged In: wildlife vehicle collisions, wildlife mitigation, elk
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