It's a jungle under there

As summer months approach, orange colored barrels dot roads across the country. Although drivers will eventually breathe a sigh of post-construction relief, non-passenger critters often respond differently to a road’s rebirth.

Our roads are beginning to change with our times though, and the animals around us are taking note. More than 42 wildlife crossings have been built, or are in construction, along U.S. Highway 93 on the Flathead Reservation as the result of an agreement between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Montana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highways Administration in 2003.

As construction continues, a wildlife overhead pass and additional crossings will be constructed from Evaro to McClure Road in collaboration with the asphalt laid by MDOT. The large wildlife crossing overpass, to be located near the Gray Wolf Casino, will be largely vegetated and appear as a tunnel to drivers, said MDOT district biologist Pat Basting.

“What the public will see will be different than what the wildlife will see,” Basting said of the overpass.

Drivers throughout the county and Montana are seeing less animals on the roadways, and animals are seeing less vehicles.

Marcel Huijser, Ph.D., research ecologist for the road ecology program with the Western Transportation Institute — an organization that monitors the animal crossings on the reservation — said the crossings have “world proportions and importance.”

Huijser said many wildlife crossings have been built in Western Montana over the last five years, along with a few other states that have also followed the lead of Europe and Western Europe, which have been at the forefront of wildlife mitigation for the past two decades. In Florida panthers use the underpasses, in Arizona elk, in Montana many kinds of critters walk through the pass.

The WTI monitors crossings daily by video and weekly through site visits, during which time animal tracks are observed. The tribes also monitor the various crossing activity and effectiveness.

Dale Becker, CSKT Wildlife Management biologist, said that animals were using the crossings as soon as they were constructed. He said deer began using the crossings before installments of 2.6-meter high page mill wire fencing and wing fencing were put in place near Evaro. The fences are used to direct the animals and keep them off the roads.

“It’s doing what it was aimed to do,” Becker said, adding that he began seeing results within the first summer of wildlife crossings, noting that grizzlies and their cubs were safely making their ways under the road.

Becker said the crossings “made a difference” near Evaro, as he has seen collisions decline. He said animals have their own learning curve, and after they use the crossings it becomes more of a habit to do so.

During May 23 through Dec. 18, 2008, a total of 2,979 animals used the 11 underpasses north and south of Ravalli, Huijser said. Of those animals: 36 percent were deer, 28 percent coyotes, 13 percent raccoons, 7 percent domestic cats, five percent humans, four percent bob cats, three percent black bear, three percent were from other species and one percent were dogs.

Two new species began using the crossings this year, the elk and otter.

“I’m not disappointed in the numbers I’m seeing,” Huijser said, going on to explain that the amount of animals using the crossings today are compared to the amount of animals studied before the crossings were built.

For three years before the crossings’ construction, fences were put in place, and 40 different tracking beds lined those fences to calculate the number of animals near the road. He said there are a variety of factors to consider in evaluating the structures’ success.

“We really don’t know the results yet,” Huijser said, adding that a few more years of data must be gathered to determine the impact of the crossings on the animal community.

The Flathead Reservation is home to a variety of animals. There are 66 species of mammals, nine species of amphibians and nine species of reptiles, according to the Tribal Wildlife Management Program.

Through the efforts of the state, federal and tribal governments the age-old joke of the chicken will be no more. The crossings have been strategically placed throughout the Reservation and efforts to pursue a larger scale study are underway for 2010, which would include additional underpass monitoring.