What Harm Could A Road Do?

To one travelling down Interstate 89 at 65 miles per hour, what harm could a road do? To one glancing out the windows at the rounded Green Mountains and the low farm lands carved by the Winooski River, the road hardly exists. It's a passing thought, obscured in the moment by the surrounding scene.

But why shouldn't we forget? For many residents of the Green Mountain state, the construction of Interstate 89 (from 1960-1965) is a distant memory, if any memory at all. It has become a staple of our lives and a secondary thought: a way from point 'A' to point 'B', a way boost to the economy, and a way to see the state in an amazingly short amount of time. The interstate has made it easy on the human population here in Vermont, as I'm sure anyone in the past 50 years would attest - but what about others?

While we travel down that road, we may see a few bundled, indistinguishable piles of fur scattered along the side, they may leave our memory faster than we pass them by in our cars, but even if the thought remains, it is too often followed by: 'Must be the unfortunate one'. But we are the unfortunate ones as long as we do not understand the effects roads have on wildlife, both large and small. There are more concerns than simply roadkill, although this is one of the more obvious and attention-drawing signs to a rampant human corridor. Reed Noss, President and Chief Scientist of Florida Institute for Conservation Science highlights several of the harmful effects of major roads on wildlife populations in his article: The Ecological Effect of Roads.

Listing direct effects as: Roadkill, Aversion & Behavioral Modification, Fragmentation, Pollution, and Impact on Hydrology and Terrestrial Habitat, Noss speaks to various instances across several species where roads have created problems for resident natural communities.

Focusing on the American black bear (Urus americanus) as it relates to our location in the Green Mountains, (especially north in the Mount Mansfield State Forest), the overwhelming effects on just one population are eye opening. Like many species who encounter roads, the black bear is often a victim of road kill, but Noss also reports that bears -among a few other larger species- learn to show aversion to roads and the traffic they bring. Curiously, some birds also tend to avoid busy highways, raising the question of whether or not roads are "selectively permeable" so to speak. While the case of Yellowstone and Grizzlies "waiting for handouts from tourists" conflicts with previous cases, one can accept the difference by understanding the relative "shyness" of the black bear compared to a more human-acclimated Grizzly.

By developing an intolerance of roads, the bear population undoubtedly becomes split and fragmented. Noss refers to a case in the Southern Appalachians where collared bears refused to cross interstate highways and moved their populations to areas with lower road densities. Fragmentation is a major factor in the loss of biodiversity, isolating populations and reducing genetic diversity within populations. To form such a barrier, then, is to watch an important population of the Vermont mountainsides dwindle. Other problems follow, such as limited range and increased hunting, which then will cause the bear population to drop below sustainable levels.

Noss' solutions within his "Preferred Alternative" are hardly applicable to I-89, albeit hopeful for locations of less traveled roads. Closing the interstate is not an option, although carefully considering how frequently side roads to the north and south are traveled, and keeping in mind an option for "wildlife crossings" are not something to so quickly forget. And while this problem is challenging and may require a few solutions to several pressing issues, it is an important one not just for the black bear and not just for all the creatures that call the Green Mountains home, but for our own lives as well.

Whether we care about the "wholeness" of an ecosystem and the services it provides, the beauty of imagining species like the black bear are out there, or even if just to have peace of mind when traveling along the interstate, knowing that we are searching to reduce our impact on the natural world - anything is better than leaving questions like: 'What harm could a road do?' unanswered.