Highway-Wildlife Relationships : Vol. 1, a State-Of-The-Art Report

mnwMimii *»i 662 Dept. of Transportation no. JUL 8 1976 FHWA- RD- port No. FHWA-RD-76-4 Library 76-4 HIGHWAY-WILDLIFE RELATIONSHIPS Vol. 1. A State-of-the-Art Report D.L. Leedy t°ZJ£**sA s **ris&* December 1975 Final Report This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161 Prepared for FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION Offices of Research & Development Washington, D.C. 20590 NOTICE This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. The contents of this report reflect the views of Urban Wildlife Research Center, Inc., which is responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of the Department of Transportation. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers' names appear herein only because they are considered essential to the object of the document. / e .43 TECHNICAL REPORT STANDARD TITLE PAGE V FrfhJfc^-1. Report No. 1. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. R2>- FHWA-RD-76-U L-4 4^ Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Mghway-Wildlife Relationships December 1975 Volume l.^Jt State-of-the-Art Report 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Daniel L. Leedy 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. Urban Wildlife Research Center, Inc. FCP 33F2-182 12789 Folly Quarter Road 11. Contract or Grant No. Ellicott City, Maryland 210U3 P.O. 5-30189 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Addres* Offices of Research and Development Final Report U,i Federal Highway Administration , 14. Sponsoring Agency Code U*7s . Department of Transportation Washington, D.C. 20590 Ik a/*/9 15. Supplementary Notes FHWA contract manager: Douglas L. Smith (HRS-U2! 16. Abstract This study assesses, primarily through an extensive literature review, • what is knovai about highway-wildlife relationships and suggests research and management approaches to protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and environmental quality. A cooperative effort to this end among natural resource and highway agency personnel is needed on a continuing basis from the initial planning stages for new highway construction through operation and maintenance. The 20 million or more acres , in highway rights-of-way have been largely neglected as wildlife habitat. Opportunitie; exist for creating valuable fish and wildlife impoundments during construction, yet the minimal effort needed to locate and design such impoundments has generally not been made. The Nation's four million miles of streets and highway often create "edges" conducive to wildlife. Many millions of wild vertebrates are killed annually, but apparently most wildlife populations are not seriously affected by such losses. Highway construction through limited ranges of endangered species can be a serious problem, as can erosion, wetland drainage, stream alteration, struc- tures which block the passage of anadromous fish, and pollutants resulting from highway maintenance and use. Better measures for mitigating habitat losses, pre- dicting effects of highways on fish and wildlife, reducing animal-vehicle accidents, and enhancing highway environment for fish, wildlife, and people are sorely needed. This Volume is volume 1 of a two volume report Volume 1. A State-of-the-Art Report. Volume 2. An Annotated Bibiography. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution statement Highway , Wildlife, Fish, Right- jj Restrictions. This of-way, Vegetation-management, Highway- document is available to the public through plantings, Pollutants, Wildlife- the National Technical Information Service mortality, Erosion, Environmental- quality "Springfield, Virginia 22161. Also for sale Planning, Research- needs , Bibliography by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 193 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-69) . PREFACE This two-volume work, consisting of a State-of-the-Art Report and an Annotated Bibliography on Highway-Wildlife Rela- tionships, was prepared by the Urban Wildlife Research Center, Inc. for the Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, The primary purpose of the project was to assess what is known about the effects of highways, their construction, maintenance and operation on fish, wildlife and their habitat. In addition, the effects of wildlife on highway struc- tures, vehicular use, and rights-of-way vegetation were considered. Also, suggestions were made as to what might be done, especially with respect to research, to promote the protection and enhancement of fish and wildlife and of environmental quality in the conduct of the Department's program. The report was written not only with highway planners, engineers, landscape architects, and others in the transportation field in mind, but, also, for fish and wildlife agency adminis- trators, biologists, ecologists, and others concerned with natural resources and environmental quality. The project involved an extensive review of the literature in both the transportation and natural resource conservation fields. This literature review was supplemented by personal observations and by information derived from discussions and correspondence with individuals in both of these fields. This approach showed a surprising lack of understanding of each others' problems in these areas and little appreciation of what might be accomplished through research and a cooperative management effort In order to set the stage for such cooperation and understanding among highway and natural resource personnel, certain references concerning highway construction and maintenance operations, and some references on ecology, hydrology and wildlife were cited in the State-of-the-Art report or abstracted in the Bibliography which do not deal directly with highway-wildlife relationships. They do have relevance, however, in that they provide information on highway pollutants, for example, or deal with food and cover requirements of, or pollutant effects on, fish and wildlife. Of the 794 references abstracted in the Annotated Biblio- graphy, 489 are cited in the State-of-the-Art Report. Although some of the references cited in the Report utilize a considerable amount of the material included in the respective abstracts, many of them contain only a fraction of the information available in the Bibliography. Likewise, v the reader will find much relevant information in the remaining 305 uncited bibliographi- cal items. As a convenience to the reader, the Bibliography has been arranged under headings and sub-headings which correspond, generally, with the subject matter headings in the State-of-the- ii Art Report, In addition, because some articles dealt with more than one subject and required cross-referencing, a dual system of identifying the reference was used, Each reference in the Bibliography was given a number and listed consecutively. This number was used. along with the author's name and date of publication for those articles cited in the State-of-the-Art Report, Thus, the reader can locate, immediately, the reference in the Bibliography and obtain any additional information provided therein. The authors have been impressed with the opportunities and challenges that exist for closer cooperation and more effective exchange of information among highway and natural resource agency personnel at all levels on matters concerning highways and the environment. Environmental laws, administrative direc- tives, memoranda of understanding and some guides exist for such cooperation and coordination of effort, but much more effective implementation is needed. This is particularly true at local levels in the construction and maintenance of township and county roads. If this report leads to more scientific input from biologists and ecologists, beginning at the earliest stages of planning and selecting a route for a highway and continuing through the construction, operation and maintenance of the highway; and if some of the needs and opportunities for research which are identified, can be pursued, we shall consider our time spent on the project worthwhile. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The assistance and cooperation of many individuals and organizations in the preparation of the State-of-the-Art Report and the Annotated Bibliography is acknowledged with sincere thanks. Stephen R. Seater, Administrative Director of the Urban Wildlife Research Center, Inc., was a constant source of inspir- ation and support, as was Douglas Smith, Contract Manager for the Federal Highway Administration. Fredia Rafferty and Katherine Appier deserve special thanks for typing the manuscript and the extensive bibliography. Charles R. Anderson, Chief, and Bluett Green of the Bureau of Landscape Architecture, Maryland State Highway Administration, were most cooperative in making available pertinent references assembled by them for a wildlife guide being prepared for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Task Force for Environmental Design. References and information were also provided by Richard Banks, Kenneth J, Chiavetta,

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