Highway Impact on Wildlife on the Flathead Reservation

Roads are one of the biggest causes of habitat fragmentation in the United States.  Understanding road impacts on wildlife and developing tools to predict and diminish these impacts are important for wildlife conservation.  WCS has teamed up with the Western Transportation Institute and a tribal biologist on the Flathead Reservation in Montana to both study highway impacts on wildlife and provide graduate training to a tribal member.  This effort will increase our ability to reduce road impact and enhance the capacity of tribal members to manage their wildlife.

The Human Aspect
An expansion of US 93 (see map) through the Flathead Reservation has been planned.  To lessen the impact on cultural resources and wildlife that will result, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the Federal Highway Administration, and the Montana Department of Transportation came to an agreement that more than 40 wildlife-crossing structures will be included in the highway’s upgrade.  The magnitude of this mitigation effort is unprecedented, and offers an unmatched opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of wildlife-crossing structures.

Threats
US 93 has profound impacts on wildlife, ranging from increased mortality (roadkill) to habitat fragmentation and degradation.  A lack of trained tribal members in wildlife biology indirectly threatens long-term persistence of wildlife on the reservation.

WCS Activities
In order to heighten our understanding of how to reduce the impact of roads on wildlife and to increase the capacity of Native Americans to conserve and manage biodiversity and cultural resources on their lands, WCS collaborates with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) and the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) on this project.  Together, WCS and WTI are supporting a Pend d’Oreille tribal member, Whisper Camel-Maillet, to conduct her Master’s Degree research examining US 93 impacts on wildlife.

The objective of this research is to understand which road and landscape characteristics may influence where wildlife cross roads and whether their road crossing is successful.  This research will not only contribute to our knowledge of how roads impact wildlife, but will also aid in evaluating how best to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions through wildlife crossing improvements.

Important Next Steps

• Compile data on wildlife mortality on US 93 and collect data on successful wildlife
   crossing using tracking beds next to the road (see above pictures).
• Collect and quantify data on landscape characteristics surrounding the road such
   as the topography and vegetation.
• Collect and quantify data on road characteristics such as how far drivers can see in
   front of them and to the side of the road.
• Utilize geographical information system (GIS) and statistics to assess what variables
   may predict  crossing locations and the likelihood of wildlife-vehicle
   collisions.
• Provide training and technical support in wildlife management data analysis to
   tribal members; in particular, advanced training in geographical information system
   (GIS) and statistics.