Roadkill threat: Utah deer herds taking a hit

[Skunk]

Roadkill threat: Utah deer herds taking a hit

By Brett Prettyman, The Salt Lake Tribune, brettp@sltrib.com

December 14, 2009

It's possible that more of the animals are killed by vehicles than hunters.


Thousands of deer and other wildlife are killed on Utah roadways
each year. Wildlife officials believe efforts to provide deer with
alternatives to crossing highways, such as culverts or overpasses,
can be effective -- and they have video evidence to prove it.
(Courtesy of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources)

Plenty of attention is paid to deaths on Utah highways, but the lives lost are not only those of people.

With the state's deer population struggling -- officials recently reduced the 2010 general hunting season from nine days to five -- the Utah Wildlife Board wants to better understand the effect that traffic has on deer. There are estimates that 20,000 a year are killed on roadways, but no one knows for sure. It's quite possible that the number of roadway deaths exceeds the number shot by hunters, 20,755 in 2008 according to state records.

"We don't allow hunters to harvest females, but vehicles do not discriminate," said Anis Aoude, big game coordinator for the DWR. "Seventy-two percent of the carcasses picked up were female. That could be significant."

Biologists fix Utah's deer population around 300,000 and have set a goal of expanding the number to 411,300. Reducing the number killed on roads could play a key role in achieving that. But at a cost.

A recent fencing project in Parleys Canyon intended to keep wildlife off I-80 between the East Canyon and Lamb's Canyon exits -- roughly three miles -- cost $395,000.

With 22 wildlife crossings, including one overpass that is the oldest of its kind in the U.S., Utah already is among the country's leading states using wildlife overpasses and underpasses, which have a proven record of effectively reducing roadkill but typically run from $500,000 to $3 million. Some critics say that is too much to spend on animals that may just end up attached to a hunting tag, but there is also a human element.

An average of four to six people die each year in Utah from collisions with wildlife, said John Bissonette, a professor at Utah State University. His studies show property damage and human loss of life or injury in Utah between 1992 and 2002 cost more than $7.5 million. Nationwide, about 220 people die in wildlife accidents annually.

"[The crossings are] not just about prevention of wildlife loss," said Rebecka Stromness, the environmental program manager at UDOT. "This is a driver-safety issue. If you hit a moose at 65 mph, it is highly unlikely that anybody will survive."

State wildlife and transportation officials created a map of deer mortality hot spots based on the 4,209 dead deer picked up in 2008. It will help determine where wildlife crossings should be incorporated into the road system.

"We have identified where accidents are occurring in high numbers," Stromness said. "If we have a project in those areas, we will try to find funding to help do something there to keep the animals off the road."

Patricia Cramer, another USU researcher, has been studying and working on wildlife crossings for 12 years. She has motion-sensor cameras stationed at many of the crossings, helping determine the effectiveness of various forms.

"Every month wildlife crossings in Utah safely see hundreds of deer across roadways," she said.



By the numbers

20,000: The estimated number of deer deaths attributed to roadway mortality annually in Utah.
20,755: Number of deer shot by hunters in 2008.

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13982844?source=rv