Oregon Wildlife Habitat Connectivity: A National Perspective

Sandra JacobsonSandra JacobsonUSDA Forest ServicePacific Southwest Research StationRedwood Sciences Lab Arcata CA

Oregon Wildlife Habitat Connectivity: A National Perspective

Sandra JacobsonSandra JacobsonUSDA Forest ServicePacific Southwest Research StationRedwood Sciences Lab

Bend, OregonBend, Oregon

This agent is unique

It kills outright It removes habitat and replaces it

with expanses of barren surfaces It slices habitat by creating a barrier

to movementIt’s noisy and carries frequently noisy

people into remote habitat It creates noxious fumes and salts

The Challenges

Public roads in the US number 4 million miles, excluding FS administrative roads

The Interstate Highway system celebrated its 50th anniversary in June 2006

The first speed limit was in 1924….at 35 mph Stoner published the first article about the

effects of roads on wildlife in 1936 Vehicle miles have increased to

3,000,000,000,000 in 2004

Habitat connectivity threats

Loss of habitat/fragmentation Pollution Direct mortality Human disturbance Noise Invasive species Unnatural or novel ecological processes

What do all these things have in common?

ROADS

Transportation is the Common Link

Follows or precedes Follows or precedes developmentdevelopment

Development on private Development on private lands precedes increase lands precedes increase in highway development in highway development on public landson public lands

Usually roads are Usually roads are irreversible and irreversible and irretrievableirretrievable

Volume of traffic Volume of traffic predicts impacts to predicts impacts to wildlifewildlife

Photo USDA Forest Service: Dave Herr

Highway

Railroad

Another railroad

Powerline

Dam

McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor

Safety!Safety!•Roads on or near public lands are typically rural•24-35% of all crashes on rural roads are related to animal collisions

•Rate of crashes on rural roads is much higher than on high volume roads

How can we integrate our disparate agency missions and opportunities?

Statewide habitat connectivity plans Statewide habitat connectivity plans have grass roots originhave grass roots origin

State Wildlife Action Plans provide a State Wildlife Action Plans provide a common basecommon base

Now, SAFETEA-LU provides Now, SAFETEA-LU provides additional framework through Section additional framework through Section 60016001 Identification of mitigation opportunitiesIdentification of mitigation opportunities

All together: All together: a historic opportunity to a historic opportunity to integrate transportation and ecological integrate transportation and ecological planningplanning

Statewide Habitat Connectivity/Transportation Planning No agency has statewide habitat

connectivity as part of its mission Simple in concept: gather key people

well-distributed among organizations, give them basic common understanding, allow them to agree on a plan

Major Benefits of Statewide Connectivity Planning

Agencies identify and agree on priorities

Greater overall knowledge allows agencies to be ‘on the same page’

Allows overlapping mission accomplishment

Increases predictability, therefore reduces suspicion

Urgent situations can be identified and input into planning process

Partially fulfills requirement to identify mitigation opportunities

Florida

Efficient Transportation Decision Making (ETDM)

Meets intent of SAFETEA-LU Section 6001 (“play and plan well together”)

Several years in the making Several million dollars Used now for all kinds of planning

Pellicer Creek Land Bridge over I-95 (35,000 Average Annual Daily Traffic)

California

One of earliest statewide connectivity efforts, mostly led by NGO’s

Not limited to roads California is big, diverse

AND has very powerful counties

Most effective in Southern California

Sierra County Highway 89 Stewardship Team

New Mexico

One of the simplest and fastest statewide plans

Identified and prioritized linkages in two days

Limited to larger species Highly praised by participants because

of interagency collaboration

Colorado

NGO led: Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project

FHWA 2006 Exemplary Ecosystem Award

Complex approach included modeling and expert opinion

Arizona

Nice combination of complexity and speed

Interagency workshop for most people was one day but lots of additional intensive work

Software now availableTonto National Forest

Other states

Utah Vermont Idaho Montana

Idaho Panhandle National Forests

Oregon!

One of the first states to use its State Wildlife Action Plan

Using the methods shown to work well in several states

You are making history!

Photo: USFS Don Virgovic

Transportation planning is the Transportation planning is the best hope for an “Ecological best hope for an “Ecological Infrastructure”Infrastructure”

Analogous to the “Built Infrastructure” and understood by the DOT’s

Transportation planning is continuous across all jurisdictions

Highly standardized across the country

Now required by law to coordinate with land management agencies

Mitigation of environmental impacts is growing in acceptance

The closest thing we have to a national strategy The closest thing we have to a national strategy for connectivity planning is the State Action Plans for connectivity planning is the State Action Plans combined with SAFETEA-LU’s Section 6001combined with SAFETEA-LU’s Section 6001