Oregon Zoo Conservation

On October 19: Dr. Anthony P. Clevenger http://www.oregonzoo.org/Conservation/PNWC/bio.htm , Western Transportation Institute, presented a lecture: "The Changing Landscape of Transportation: Designing Roads to Conserve Wildlife Populations" There was a Wildlife Connections Symposium http://www.oregonzoo.org/Conservation/PNWC/SymposiumAgenda.pdf on October 20.

Summary: WILDLIFE AND ROADS

The statistics are grim. It is estimated more than 2,000 deer and elk are killed on Oregon's highways every year-not to mention owls, frogs, coyotes and turtles, all of which, at some point, cross a road in search of water, forage, nest sites or mates.

That many people are concerned about animal populations and human safety in relation to wildlife-vehicle collisions was visible at the recent Pacific Northwest Wildlife Connections conference at the Oregon Zoo. The capacity crowd of biologists, transportation planners, designers and conservationists spent four days discussing the wildlife linkage issues and sharing ideas. The conference included a symposium, a road design workshop and a transportation planning workshop.

Mindy Trask, ODOT co-chair for the Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy, thought the conference highlighted the major concerns of transportation planners when it comes to addressing wildlife passage-priority wildlife movement corridors, common types of barriers encountered by animals as they attempt to cross highways, and design solutions that work, don't work, or need more analysis.

"The new wildlife linkages and wildlife collision hot spot data for Oregon highways is a good place to start, but, right now, wildlife passage improvements are neither regulated nor adequately funded," said Trask. "To be effective, we are going to have to work with land management agencies; cities and towns; non-profit conservation groups; watershed councils; sporting groups and others who are interested in solving the problems."

"The good news is, this conference is only the beginning," said Audrey Hatch, ODFW technical coordinator for the Oregon Conservation Strategy. "With transportation planners and wildlife biologists working together, we are in an excellent position to take action to benefit fish and wildlife over the long-term."

The conference was presented by the Oregon Zoo, ODOT, Washington State Department of Transportation, ODFW, USDA Forest Service, Federal Highway Administration and Portland Metro.
E-mail Audrey audrey.c.hatch@state.or.us or Mindy Melinda.Trask@state.or.us.