Tag: Wildlife Crossings

Marcel Huijser Presents at Two Western Wildlife Forums

Posted on March 12th, 2018
Marcel Huijser

WTI Research Scientist Marcel Huijser was on the road in February, speaking at two major regional wildlife events in Colorado and California.  On February 8, he was invited to give the keynote address (“Road Ecology, are we taking the right turns?”) at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Colorado Chapter of the Wildlife Society.  On February 21, he spoke at the “Bridges and Biology” workshop hosted by the California Department of Transportation, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). At this event, Marcel led a workshop session called “National and International Perspectives,” which focused on wildlife usage of crossing structures, including how to increase their effectiveness.

 

To learn more about Marcel’s research, visit the Road Ecology webpage.

Canadian Geographic Marks 20-year Anniversary of Banff Wildlife Overpasses

Posted on December 19th, 2017

November 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the first wildlife overpass in Banff National Park.  Since then, several dozen crossing structures have been installed as part of the reconstruction of the Trans-Canada Highway, which passes through the park.  Canadian Geographic has published an extensive feature article on the development of the crossings, with a focus on how effective they have been in reducing animal vehicle collisions by approximately 80%.  Both Tony Clevenger and Rob Ament were interviewed for the article. Tony discusses his 17-years of data that documents how 11 species of large mammals have used the structure more than 200,000 times.  Rob describes how the Banff project has become a model for wildlife conservation in many other countries.  The full article is available here.

Also, read more about the Road Ecology team’s work in Banff National Park on the WTI website.

 

Montana Outdoors Magazine Highlights U.S. 93 Crossing Structures

Posted on November 6th, 2017

The bridges, tunnels, and other wildlife crossing structures on U.S. Highway 93 are the focus of “Safe Passage,” a feature article in the November/December 2017 issue of Montana Outdoors Magazine (published by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks). The article describes the major initiative to install 41 wildlife crossing structures along 56 miles of U.S. 93 while the highway was reconstructed over the course of 2004 – 2010. WTI Research Scientist Marcel Huijser is quoted in the article regarding his 14 years of work to monitor wildlife use of the structures and evaluate their effectiveness. The article also features photos of numerous animal species using the structures.  The highway reconstruction and the research study were a major collaboration among Montana Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and WTI. The online version of the Montana Outdoors article is available here.

Wildlife Crossings Evaluation featured in Missoulian, “Wildlife crossings reveal quirks in road safety”

Posted on January 18th, 2017

On Sunday, The Missoulian published a feature article called “Wildlife crossings reveal quirks in road safety,” highlighting the completion of WTI’s US 93 wildlife crossings evaluation project on US 93.  P.I.Marcel Huijser is interviewed in the article, which you can read here. As we reported in last week’s Newswire, the project represents a 14 year collaboration by WTI, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.  The full report is available on theMDT website.