WTI

Road Ecology Ongoing Projects

• I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Pre-Construction Wildlife Monitoring

  Implement and document a pre-construction wildlife monitoring program for the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East construction project in Washington.

• ARC Technology Transfer Initiative - UTC

  The objective of this initiative is to build on the momentum of the ARC competition and its message: New Methods-New Materials-New Thinking by inspiring transportation and natural resource communities and the next generation of practitioners through a series of activities over the course of twelve months. This initiative intends to acknowledge the virtues of the winning design while celebrating the promising ideas of all finalist designs. It also strives to keep innovation at the forefront of our collective thinking about wildlife crossing structure design.

• Animal Detection System Project - UTC

  The objective of this project is to investigate the reliability of a microwave radio signal break-the-beam animal detection system at the TRANSCEND facility in Lewistown, Montana.

• Carnivore Mortality and Movements On and Across the Transportation Corridors, Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park

  The objective of this project is to identify mitigation efforts that will help reduce animal-vehicle collisions, particularly for carnivores, and preserve habitat connectivity across the roads and railroads in Mount Robson Provincial Park (MRPP) and Jasper National Park (JNP) in Canada.

• Passage in Plains and Prairie Waterways and Predicting Fish Response to Climate Change

  The objective of this research is to construct flumes and swim chambers for testing swimming performances of large and small bodied fish species, as well as construct a spawning channel for physiological assessments. In addition, using the newly constructed facilities, the project will characterize swimming performance of shovelnose sturgeon, rainbow trout and westslope cutthroat and evaluate the effect of temperature on swimming performance.

• Channel Response Assessment for the Upper Blackfoot -How to Maximize Development & Preservation of Water Quality, Riparian Function, and Fish Habitat

  The goal of this project is to assess the ecological response potential of floodplains associated with Mike Horse Dam.

• Jackson Hole Highway: A Mitigation Assessment for Animal Movement and Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions

  This study aims to identify and prioritize locations along three proposed Wyoming highway expansion segments that are important for wildlife and make recommendations for mitigation measures aimed at reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions and providing safe crossing opportunities for wildlife.

• Reliability and Effectiveness of an Electromagnetic Animal Detection and Driver Warning System

  This project will investigate the reliability and effectiveness of an electromagnetic animal detection and driver warning system (ADS-DWS) that was installed along U.S. 160 between Durango and Bayfield, La Plata County, Colorado.

• WTI - Camelina Evaluation for Soil Amendment

  The objective of this project is to explore the potential uses of Camelina meal (Camelina sativa) for roadside applications, incorporated as a soil amendment or spread topically, to enhance native vegetation establishment and growth for highway reclamation projects.

• Examining Paved Road Impacts on Birds - UTC

  The purpose of this project is to improve overall knowledge of paved road impacts on birds throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative Society (Y2Y) region and determine appropriate conservation measures necessary for conserving avifauna found across the Y2Y region.