An Assessment of Road Impacts on Wildlife Populations in U.S. National Parks |
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Authors: | Rob Ament Anthony P Clevenger Olivia Yu Amanda Hardy |
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Institution: | (1) Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Post Office Box 174250, Bozeman, Montana 59717, USA;(2) Present address: USDA Environmental Microbial Safety Laboratory, Building 173, BARC-East Beltsville, Maryland, 20705, USA |
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Abstract: | Current United States National Park Service (NPS) management is challenged to balance visitor use with the environmental and
social consequences of automobile use. Wildlife populations in national parks are increasingly vulnerable to road impacts.
Other than isolated reports on the incidence of road-related mortality, there is little knowledge of how roads might affect
wildlife populations throughout the national park system. Researchers at the Western Transportation Institute synthesized
information obtained from a system-wide survey of resource managers to assess the magnitude of their concerns on the impacts
of roads on park wildlife. The results characterize current conditions and help identify wildlife-transportation conflicts.
A total of 196 national park management units (NPS units) were contacted and 106 responded to our questionnaire. Park resource
managers responded that over half of the NPS units’ existing transportation systems were at or above capacity, with traffic
volumes currently high or very high in one quarter of them and traffic expected to increase in the majority of units. Data
is not generally collected systematically on road-related mortality to wildlife, yet nearly half of the respondents believed
road-caused mortality significantly affected wildlife populations. Over one-half believed habitat fragmentation was affecting
wildlife populations. Despite these expressed concerns, only 36% of the NPS units used some form of mitigation method to reduce
road impacts on wildlife. Nearly half of the respondents expect that these impacts would only worsen in the next five years.
Our results underscore the importance for a more systematic approach to address wildlife-roadway conflicts for a situation
that is expected to increase in the next five to ten years. |
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Keywords: | Data collection Habitat fragmentation Mitigation Mortality National park Survey Road ecology Road network Transportation Questionnaire Wildlife management |
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