Highways to yield for wildlife crossings

Deer, elk, bears and moose travel, too. But they haven’t exactly benefited from the modern highway system.

The state of Idaho is hoping to make one of the Panhandle’s busiest creature crossings near McArthur Lake safer for both humans and wildlife.

Although planning is just beginning, one idea calls for U.S. Highway 95 to be widened, straightened and elevated above a creek flowing from McArthur Lake about 10 miles north of Sandpoint.

The crossing is the latest in a series of Northwest highway projects aimed at making roads less deadly for wildlife.

Washington is moving forward with plans to add wildlife crossings in the Cascade Range along Interstate 90. A highway cutting through Montana’s Flathead Valley also is scheduled to have at least 50 wildlife passageways added.

The flurry of activity is part of a growing realization of the impact highways have on wildlife, said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Highways are huge,” said Servheen, who also teaches at the University of Montana. “Not only for the amount of land covered by highways but also with the associated human development and the mortality risks for animals. All those things together can have significant risks on animal populations.”

Improving wildlife passage at McArthur Lake could be especially helpful for struggling grizzly bear populations in the Selkirk Mountains to the west and the Cabinet Mountains east of the highway. About 40 grizzlies live in each area and McArthur Lake is the narrowest point between the ranges, Servheen said. When populations are prevented from roaming and interbreeding – whether by wide highways or because of human development – the risk of extinction rises.

“These natural movement patterns have existed in the Rocky Mountains for thousands of years,” Servheen said.

Amy Schroeder, an engineer with the Idaho Transportation Department, said one possibility is a multispan bridge over Deep Creek. Currently, the highway curves sharply and descends into the creek valley. Not only is the “S” curve dangerous, but the valley bottom acts as a frost pocket.

In one snowy winter 10 years ago, researchers counted roughly 40 moose, 40 elk and at least 300 deer killed near McArthur Lake. The deaths came from a combination of auto and train traffic. At least 4,600 vehicles drive the two-lane stretch daily, and 42 trains rumble across a pair of highway-side tracks.

The agency is asking the public for comments on the plan to improve the 2.1-mile stretch – a meeting is planned for tonight in Naples, Idaho – and hopes to begin construction in 2008.

Wildlife traffic appears to be picking up in a pair of recently installed tunnels below U.S. 95 north of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, said Wayne Wakkinen, an Idaho Fish and Game Department biologist who has been researching their use. Wakkinen employs infrared-triggered cameras, as well as sand pits to monitor the tunnels near Copeland.

Wakkinen now has photographs and footprints of mice, snowshoe hares, skunks, moose, bobcats, coyotes and deer. The cameras have also captured people using the underpasses. “One of them mooned us,” Wakkinen said, laughing.

Wakkinen is also trying to radio-collar 20 black bears to track their movements and discover any preferred highway crossing spots. So far, only 13 black bears and one grizzly have been collared. Wakkinen will go into the bears’ dens later this winter to download data from their collars and replace batteries. “We don’t go into grizzly bear dens, though,” he said.

The grizzly’s collar is timed to break free sometime early next fall. Researchers will then be able to locate the collar by following its beacon.

In February, the Washington Department of Transportation is expected to unveil its proposal for a series of wildlife crossings along five miles of I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass, said agency spokesman Mike Westbay. The crossings are part of a massive $387 million widening and highway improvement project expected to be under way in three years. A total of 15 miles along the pass is scheduled for widening and wildlife passages.

Reducing avalanche and rock slide danger on the interstate is a top priority, but the state also wants to reduce wildlife movement barriers along the Cascade Range, Westbay said.

Engineers for the project traveled to Canada’s Banff National Park to study highway crossings and special fences that have helped reduce roadkill as much as 80 percent. Although the specifics on the I-90 project won’t be known for another month, Westbay said the agency intends to “set the standard for what is termed ecological connectivity.”