Roads and Connectivity in Colorado: Animal-Vehicle Collisions, Wildlife Mitigation Structures, and Lynx-Roadway Interactions

摘要

This report investigates the impact of highways and landscape connectivity in Colorado. To do so, it describes three complementary research questions. Given the threat of roads to both wildlife populations and human safety, describing the distribution of animal vehicle collisions (AVC) is a necessary step in understanding potential roadway impacts. In the first section, hotspots of AVC occurrence on highways throughout Colorado are identified, and the characteristics associated with such areas are described. To address roadway impacts, mitigation efforts are increasingly common, although rigorous assessments of the functionality of such mitigation treatments are relatively rare. The second section reviews research efforts to design and implement field monitoring of roadway-wildlife interactions at three road segments in Colorado slated for construction and installation of wildlife crossing structures. This corresponds to CDOTs Highway Corridor Wildlife Mitigation/Habitat Connectivity Research Study Phases II & III: Development of Mitigation Goals and Pre- Construction Data Collection. Rare carnivores such as lynx may be particularly susceptible to roadway impacts, but the effects of roadways on lynx reintroduced in Colorado are largely unknown. The third section reviews wildlife use of seven underpasses specifically installed as mitigation for the potential impacts of road construction on lynx; this research project corresponds to CDOTs Wildlife Underpass (Lynx) Monitoring Research Study. It examines the relationship between the movements of radio-collared lynx to roadways throughout the state and provides evidence that lynx in Colorado are selectively avoiding highways.