Case Study Sites for Prioritizing Mitigation of Road Impacts on Western Governors' Association Wildlife Corridors

These case study sites are detailed in the report accompanying this data layer. The case studies are intended to serve as examples of how some of the opportunities for diverse stakeholders to engage in the process of mitigating road impacts on wildlife that are described in the report might be applied on the ground, as well as other considerations that come into play in selecting sites for possible mitigation and designing mitigation solutions for those sites. Through these case studies, we illustrate potential opportunities for mitigation and partner engagement for each of the four alternative priority sets identified in this study.Wildlife carcasses recorded by Montana Department of Transportation, Idaho Department...

Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Shapefile; Tags: AADT, AADT, Carnivores, Carnivores, Connectivity, All tags... Connectivity, Data, Data.gov Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative, EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > LANDSCAPE, Idaho, Idaho, LCC Network Science Catalog, Landscape condition, Landscape condition, Montana, Montana, Northern Rocky Mountains, Northern Rocky Mountains, Policy makers & regulators, Regional & county planners, Risk Assessment, Risk Assessment, Road mortality, Road mortality, Roadkill, Roadkill, Roads, Roads, State agencies, Topography, Topography, Traffic volume, Traffic volume, Transportation, Transportation, Ungulates, Ungulates, Western Montana, Western Montana, Wildlife, Wildlife, Wildlife corridors, Wildlife corridors, completed, environment, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, Fewer tags

Relationships among grizzly bears, highways, and habitat in Banff-Bow Valley, Alberta, Canada.

Conclusions: Grizzly bears avoid high volume roads (25,000 vehicles/day). High quality habitat determines movement decisions relative to roads. Grizzly bears will cross high volume roads to access high-quality habitat. Grizzly bears use areas close to roads more than expected, in particular low-volume roads (10,000 vehicles/day). Prevent loss of habitat connectivity with the following mitigation: maintain high-quality habitat adjacent to roads, install continuous highway fencing and create wildlife passages. Thresholds/Learnings: Synopsis: The study examined the relationships among grizzly bears, their habitats and roads in Banff National Park, a protected area characterized by a major transportation corridor. This...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Alberta, Banff-Bow Valley, Land use configuration, Landscape fragmentation, connectivity, All tags... fragmentation, grizzly bears, habitat connectivity, linear disturbance, lower elevation montane, major transportation corridor, permeability, protected area, road avoidance, road crossing behavior, road ecology, roads, species at risk, sub-regional, terrestrial mammals, traffic volume, Fewer tags

Road-Killed Wildlife Carcass Frequency, Connectivity Value, and Potential Risk Factors by Mile Segment of U.S. Northern Rockies Major Roads (2008-2012)

Wildlife carcasses recorded by Montana Department of Transportation, Idaho Department of Fish & Game, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service were aggregated to the nearest mile marker for major roads of the U.S. Northern Rockies. WGA connectivity flowlines were intersected with the road network and attributed to the nearest mile marker, along with their connectivity ranking, which indicates their expected relative importance to maintaining westwide connectivity. Values for potential risk factors, including average annual daily traffic (AADT), functional class, number of lanes, road surface width, landscape condition of surrounding habitat, ruggedness of surrounding landscape, and topographic position relative to surrounding...

Categories: Data; Types: ArcGIS REST Map Service, ArcGIS Service Definition, Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Shapefile; Tags: AADT, AADT, Carnivores, Carnivores, Connectivity, All tags... Connectivity, Data, Data.gov Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative, EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > LANDSCAPE, Idaho, Idaho, LCC Network Science Catalog, Landscape condition, Landscape condition, Montana, Montana, Northern Rocky Mountains, Northern Rocky Mountains, Policy makers & regulators, Regional & county planners, Risk Assessment, Risk Assessment, Road mortality, Road mortality, Roadkill, Roadkill, Roads, Roads, State agencies, Topography, Topography, Traffic volume, Traffic volume, Transportation, Transportation, Ungulates, Ungulates, Western Montana, Western Montana, Wildlife, Wildlife, Wildlife corridors, Wildlife corridors, completed, environment, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, Fewer tags

Road-Killed Wildlife Carcass Frequency, Connectivity Value, and Potential Risk Factors by Mile of U.S. Northern Rockies Major Roads (2008-2012)

Wildlife carcasses recorded by Montana Department of Transportation, Idaho Department of Fish & Game, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service were aggregated to the nearest mile marker for major roads of the U.S. Northern Rockies. WGA connectivity flowlines were intersected with the road network and attributed to the nearest mile marker, along with their connectivity ranking, which indicates their expected relative importance to maintaining westwide connectivity. Values for potential risk factors, including average annual daily traffic (AADT), functional class, number of lanes, road surface width, landscape condition of surrounding habitat, ruggedness of surrounding landscape, and topographic position relative to surrounding...

Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service, Shapefile; Tags: AADT, AADT, Carnivores, Carnivores, Connectivity, All tags... Connectivity, Data, Data.gov Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative, EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > LANDSCAPE, Idaho, Idaho, LCC Network Science Catalog, Landscape condition, Landscape condition, Montana, Montana, Northern Rocky Mountains, Northern Rocky Mountains, Policy makers & regulators, Regional & county planners, Risk Assessment, Risk Assessment, Road mortality, Road mortality, Roadkill, Roadkill, Roads, Roads, State agencies, Topography, Topography, Traffic volume, Traffic volume, Transportation, Transportation, Ungulates, Ungulates, Western Montana, Western Montana, Wildlife, Wildlife, Wildlife corridors, Wildlife corridors, completed, environment, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, Fewer tags

Effects of roads on animal abundance: An empirical review and synthesis

We attempted a complete review of the empirical literature on effects of roads and traffic on animal abundance and distribution. We found 79 studies, with results for 131 species and 30 species groups. Overall, the number of documented negative effects of roads on animal abundance outnumbered the number of positive effects by a factor of 5; 114 responses were negative, 22 were positive, and 56 showed no effect. Amphibians and reptiles tended to show negative effects. Birds showed mainly negative or no effects, with a few positive effects for some small birds and for vultures. Small mammals generally showed either positive effects or no effect, mid-sized mammals showed either negative effects or no effect, and large...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: environmental impact, landscape connectivity, mortality, population density, road density, All tags... road effect zone, road mitigation, road network, species distribution, species richness, traffic density, traffic volume, Fewer tags

Effects of salinity and temperature on drag reduction characteristics of polymers in straight circular pipes

We attempted a complete review of the empirical literature on effects of roads and traffic on animal abundance and distribution. We found 79 studies, with results for 131 species and 30 species groups. Overall, the number of documented negative effects of roads on animal abundance outnumbered the number of positive effects by a factor of 5; 114 responses were negative, 22 were positive, and 56 showed no effect. Amphibians and reptiles tended to show negative effects. Birds showed mainly negative or no effects, with a few positive effects for some small birds and for vultures. Small mammals generally showed either positive effects or no effect, mid-sized mammals showed either negative effects or no effect, and large...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation; Tags: environmental impact, landscape connectivity, mortality, population density, road density, All tags... road effect zone, road mitigation, road network, species distribution, species richness, traffic density, traffic volume, Fewer tags

Road traffic and nearby grassland bird patterns in a suburbanizing landscape.

Synopsis: The study examined the effects of road networks on suburbanizing ecosystems, using grassland bird distribution to explore the relative ecological importance of variables relative to linear disturbances and the effect of road traffic volumes. The study found that roads primarily affect ecological variables for 1) distance from road and 2) habitat patch size. The study also found that road traffic volumes are correlated to avian distribution, suggesting that traffic volumes have an ecological effect. The research suggests that traffic noise is the primary ecological effect of roads and that roads with higher traffic volumes extend the road effect zone outwards of 100 m and up to 1,200 m. Given the ecological...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Boston, Land use configuration, Natural cover amount, grassland birds, grassland birds, All tags... highways, landscape ecology, linear disturbance, local/site, patch size, road ecology, road network, roads, suburban, traffic volume, traffic volume, transportation planning, Fewer tags