Facilitating Animal Movements; Reducing Roadkill

Highway underpass for wildlife

I spent 4 days last week engaged in a favorite pastime -- fly fishing for trout. But fishing isn't what I want to talk about, other than to note that when wade fishing small streams I become far more aware of the natural world around me.

One of those streams I fished parallels a Montana state highway. After a morning of fishing, I tromped to the highway then hiked along its shoulder to my parked pickup and camper. Nothing much to see here, I thought, as cars, trucks, and SUVs whizzed by at 70 mph. Nothing, as it turns out, except what was right in front of me littering the roadside. Besides the expected trash (that some folks still toss out the window), tread from blown tires, and assorted parts from vehicles, etc., I found myself stunned by the carnage we call "roadkill." To most of us, roadkill means the large and medium-sized animals--deer, skunks, racoons, etc.--that meet their ends against the grills and fenders of motor vehicles. But that's a tiny fraction of the wild critters that fall prey to traffic.

On that 25-minute, roadside walk, I observed the carcasses or partial remains of robins, cedar waxwings, a yellow warbler, red-tailed hawk, raven, and other bird species I could not identify from battered feathers and bones. But far more abundant than the birds were the bodies of dozens of insects: bumblebees, beetles, and several species of butterflies including skippers, painted ladies, mourning cloaks, and monarchs. The following afternoon, I fished that same stream course and made the same 25-minute trek to my truck. Two things struck me. Each of the bird carcasses I saw the previous morning were gone--removed, I suspect, by scavengers who have learned that roadsides offer a ceaseless buffet. Secondly, a new collection of dead things had replaced yesterday's.

Most motorists likely don't stress about high-speed (and not-so-high speed) roadways represent killing zones for a wide diversity of lifeforms ... except perhaps when scrubbing their smeared remains from our windshields and grills. And to a great degree this roadkill seems unavoidable with so many miles motored by us. Yet that doesn't excuse our role in the matter.

And that's why I wanted to share this linked article that describes a landmark initiative in Montana to reduce roadkill by stepping up the construction of wildlife underpasses and overpasses that enable animals to migrate and otherwise access resources bisected by roads. Although the focus is on ground-dwelling creatures, primarily mammals, this initiative acknowledges our need to mitigate roadway danger zones to benefit both wildlife and motorists. Promoting wildlife's safe passage is the least we can do.

There must be people much smarter than me actively seeking solutions that reduce the daily deaths of untold thousands (millions?) of other flying and fluttering lives . At least I hope so. I'd pony up for that.