1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Bozeman Pass Wildlife Pre- and Post-Fence Monitoring Project

The Bozeman Pass transportation corridor between Bozeman and Livingston, Montana, includes Interstate-90, frontage roads, and a railroad. The highway supports 8,000-12,000 daily vehicles during the winter and 10,000 to 15,000 daily vehicles during the summer. The interstate has essentially become a barrier and hazard to animal movements in the Bozeman Pass area. To determine the extent of the animal-vehicle conflicts and where conflicts may best be mitigated, Craighead Environmental Research Institute (CERI) began collecting field data on Bozeman Pass in 2001. Data analysis led to recommendations to incorporate approximately 2 miles of wildlife fencing, cattle guards and landscaping design modifications into the reconstruction of a Montana Rail Link (MRL) overpass. These recommendations were accepted by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and MRL in 2005 and a wildlife fence and four jump-outs were constructed in 2007. Adding relatively low cost wildlife mitigation measures to existing highway projects are effective in increasing highway permeability and reducing animal mortality, and could be incorporated into the Obama infrastructure initiative. Data on wildlife crossings and animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) were collected before and after installation of the fencing to evaluate if the fencing reduces animal-vehicle collisions, and to determine animal movements under the highway via existing culverts and the MRL overpass. Data collection includes seven tasks, as follows: (1) Road kill surveys between Bozeman and the Jackson Creek interchange. (2) Track bed monitoring of wildlife movements under the MRL bridge. (3) Remote camera monitoring of wildlife movements at fence ends. (4) Infrared counter monitoring of wildlife movements at jump-outs. (5) Track bed monitoring of wildlife movements at fence ends and jump-outs. (6) Remote camera monitoring of wildlife movements in two culverts at east end of fence. (7) Opportunistic snow tracking under MRL bridge and in fenced area. Power analyses (power = 0.8; α = 0.05) indicated three to five years of post-fencing study would be optimal in order to make reasonable quantitative comparisons between the pre- and post-fencing ungulate-vehicle collision (UVC) data. This presentation reports on 2 years of data. Nearly 2,000 animals have been killed along 23 miles of Interstate 90 from 2001 - June 2009. Since the installation of the wildlife fence about 1.5 miles long, two white-tailed deer has been killed within the fenced area and three have been killed at the fence ends. There has not been an increase in animal-vehicle collisions (AVC) at the ends of the fence. Preliminary results indicate an increased use of underpasses and culverts by wildlife. Costs for this project were much lower than new wildlife crossing structures since the fencing was added on to a structure replacement project for an existing underpass. More wildlife appears to travel through the rebuilt underpass as well as through other existing crossing structures (culverts and county road bridge). This suggests that fencing alone can be added to help direct animals through existing structures. Wildlife fencing leading to existing crossing structures is a cost-effective method of reducing AVC and thus reducing risk to motorists as well as increasing connectivity for wildlife. Design improvements in jump-outs and fence-ends will be discussed.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Bibliography; Figures; Maps; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 469-474
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2009)

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01558550
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780977809448
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Mar 31 2015 9:05AM