Critical Linkages: Assessing Connectivity Restoration Potential for Culvert Replacement, Dam Removal and Construction of Wildlife Passage Structures in Massachusetts

The University of Massachusetts Amherst, working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and state agencies, has integrated data related to landscape connectivity and human development and completed a comprehensive analysis of areas in Massachusetts where connections must be restored to support biodiversity and minimize vehicle-wildlife collisions. The Critical Linkages project has been developing spatially explicit tools, including maps and scenario-testing software, to mitigate impacts of roads on the environment and help inform the design of new roads. The project built on the existing Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS), a computer model developed by UMass that incorporates biophysical and anthropogenic data to develop an index of ecological integrity. Within the framework of CAPS the connectedness and aquatic connectedness metrics were used to model various scenarios and quantify the differences among them. Using this approach the authors conducted a comprehensive statewide assessment of restoration potential for 1) dam removals, 2) culvert replacements and 3) construction of wildlife passage structures on roads and highways. A baseline assessment of connectedness and aquatic connectedness provided a statewide base scenario for comparison of restoration options. Scenario-testing software was developed to efficiently assess restoration potential for large numbers of possible restoration projects and then applied statewide to identify road segments, road-stream crossings and dams that currently obstruct aquatic and terrestrial wildlife movement and that offer the greatest opportunity for restoration of landscape connectivity in Massachusetts.

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• Summary URL:
  https://icoet.net/links
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract used with permission from the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, organized by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State University.
• Corporate Authors:

  North Carolina State University, Raleigh

  Center for Transportation and the Environment
  Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-8601
• Authors:
  • Jackson, Scott D
  • Compton, Bradley W
  • McGarigal, Kevin
• Conference:
  • 2011 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2011)
  • Location: Seattle Washington, United States
  • Date: 2011-8-21 to 2011-8-25
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 143-156
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2011)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Construction; Culverts; Dams; Environmental protection; Habitat (Ecology); Wildlife crossings
• Geographic Terms: Massachusetts
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01558469
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 31 2015 8:53AM