This story was identified byPatricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, guest editor of Call to Earth's "Nature's Highways" theme. I did. ..
(CNN)How did the grizzly bear cross the road? Hard way. A young male grizzly bear, Lingenpolter, required 46 attempts to safely cross Montana's Interstate Highway 90.
Wearing a researcher-mounted GPS tracker, the bear was found to be approaching the freeway many times from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021. I'm always turning back. In the end, he was fortunate enough to cross the road under the bridge north of the town of Drammond.
The story of the Ringen Poltergeist is not uncommon. Crowded highways are a dangerous obstacle for animals that need space to roam. If they cross, they are at risk of hitting the vehicle, but if they do not cross, the range of animals will be limited and the population may fragment and diminish.
To avoid such bears crossing highways, Canadian park authorities have built elevated and elevated roads that provide safe passages. did. Credits: CNN
"(Highways) are a real barrier to all kinds of wildlife," said Y2Y President and Chief Scientist. Jody Hilti says. An initiative aimed at preserving key habitats on 2,000 miles of land between Yellowstone National Park in the United States and Yukon in northwestern Canada. Connectivity is essential for species survival- "to help maintain their genetics, find the resources they need, and maintain a healthy population," she adds.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to overcome these barriers is the wildlife crossing. Bridges and underpasses that provide safe passages for animals crossing the highway. Y2Y helped pioneer this approach throughout its scope.
"When Y2Y started in 1993, there was no cross-sectional structure of wildlife. Today there are 117," Hilty told CNN.
In April, the ground was destroyed on the 118th, a Bow Valley overpass that crosses the Trans Canada Highway in Alberta.
Pressure Point
Nearly 5,000 miles of this highway is one of the most beautiful landscapes in the country, including the majestic Canadian Rockies and the breathtaking Banff National Park. I'm going through some of them. -Inhabited by grizzly bears, wolves, elks, deer and other wildlife. According to
Y2Y, 22,000 cars use the road every day, and in the summer when tourists come to witness the natural beauty of the area, it swells to more than 30,000. go up. However, the invasion of traffic into this wilderness caused numerous wildlife and vehicle collisions.
On a 25-mile highway with no fences or wildlife crossroads, Y2Y records about 70 roadkills a year, and the actual number is due to the frequent movement of injured animals. It can be much more. Hilti says he will die on the road and later.
In addition to crossing animal forests, "improving people's safety," says Jesse Whitington, a wildlife ecologist at Parks Canada, who manages Banff National Park.
Whittington has been studying the effects of intersections in and around the park for years. Camera traps capture which animals are using them, and radio collars attached to grizzly bears and wolves show how intersections can help enable long-distance movement. ..
Animals don't know where the intersection is right away, but highway fencing (the foundation is built 2 meters underground to prevent animals from digging underneath) Helps to focus them towards the intersection. Over time, grizzly bears and wolves learn how to use intersections and pass on this knowledge to their descendants.
Parks, Canada, has recorded 187,000 elevated and underpass animals since 1996. According to Whitington, "it shows that these cross structures are working."
Banff National Park and the Y2Y project set an example for others to follow, says Hilti.
"We really want our model to be featured on an ongoing basis, because we think we can work together to ensure that both humans and nature can prosper. "She says.
Highways can be dangerous places for bears. Credits: CNN
Hilti hopes that the use of wildlife crossroads will become a global standard practice. “When the roads are crowded, we need to reach a point where creating safe passages for wildlife becomes part of normal social practice,” she says.