Restoring Wildlife Connectivity: Popular Article

There are similar projects being put in place through out the state.  An example of this can be seen on a section of route 78 that goes through the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.

This area contains the largest significant wetland complex in the state.  The area is a transition between wetland and upland habitat.  This area offers habitat for resident and migratory waterfowl, deer, moose, black bear, min, otter, muskrat, raccoon, coyotes, red and gray fox, amphibians and reptiles.  The area also provides habitat for the endangered black tern and soft-shelled turtle.  To determine the correct management plan the landscape and habitat conditions, distribution or wildlife mortality, and animal movement will be evaluated.  After the data was collected the following management plan was constructed.  A 500 ft long underpass will be put in place at the primary linkage point (Louis Landing), this will reconnect ecological connectivity by providing a wildlife passage and improve public safety by reducing possible collisions.  The will be able to accommodate multiple species and utilize fences to direct large mammals.  As well the road will be moved 100 ft away from the Missisquoi River and the riparian area will be restored.  Four amphibian passage structures will also be constructed to reduce mortality and provide access to spawning grounds.  In the Carmens' Marsh area three large box culverts should also be put in place to restore the hydrology and allow the wetland dependent animals like muskrat, beaver, and otter to move with the wetland system.

This is not the only habitat linkage problem in the state, there are many others like our project on I-89.  A similar approach could be utilized at our site to evaluate the landscape and habitat conditions, and conduct research on wildlife movement and wildlife road mortality.  The data gathered can be used to calculate the best possible solution and reconnect the habitat on either side of I-89.

Austin, John M.; Ferguson, Mark; Gingras, Glenn; & Bakos, Greg. (2003). Strategies for restoring ecological connectivity and establishing wildlife passage for the upgrade of Route 78 in Swanton, Vermont: an overview. UC Davis: Road Ecology Center. Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/50q5q4m7

We're All In This Together

After engaging in this project for under a few weeks, I find it's easy to become overwhelmed. There are so many factors to consider, so many people to please, and so many possibilities for a better future of sustained conservation and connectivity in the heart of the Green Mountains. It can be difficult to imagine one individual or one group bringing forth all the necessary change even here in our humble state of just 6 million acres. 

But it should never be easy to imagine. 

This beautiful land enclosed in the borders of our state and even the land beyond that belongs to other states, nations, and continents is not under the stewardship of just one person or one organization, the task belongs to those who presently, historically, and will one day inhabit the Earth. And for the most part, there are so many factors to consider regarding conservation because there are so many different people associated with the land. It is so important, then, to embrace the diversity of interests rather than handling it as an inhibition. While everyone may not always have the same ideas or goals, in all likelihood, there will be common ground between several groups in one location. 

A local and relevant-to-our-site example of this is the Chittenden County Uplands Conservation Project. This initiative was begun back in 1999 as the product of just a few concerned locals and conservation leaders of the time. At the forefront of the vision stands Sue Morse, who resides in Jericho and believed in conserving and preventing development of the Uplands, consisting of Jericho, Bolton, Richmond, and Underhill. This region lies directly to the north and northwest of our site between Bolton and Duxbury, and happens to be a crucial region that helps conserve what Mount Mansfield State Forest to the northeast does not. Up to 8,000 acres have been conserved as of last year. 

Land protected by the Chittenden County Uplands Project marked in green. The site of this project is marked in red.

Because of the project's location, wildlife habitat is protected to new extents surrounding the valley and increases the importance of some connection across the barrier of I-89 and Route 2. 

But the moral of the story lies in what the future may bring. After the creation of the Uplands Conservation Project, the Vermont Land Trust showed full support of the vision and behind them stood several concerned citizens and other organizations with their own ideas for the land. All priorities are based on scientific study and work goes to extending hands to local landowners and other groups who wish to partner.

Currently, participants include: Vermont Land Trust, the Nature Conservancy, the Green Mountain Club, the Vermont Association for Snow Travel, the town of Bolton, the Climbing Resource Access Group, hikers, skiers, hunters, artists, and numerous other landowners. They may not all share the same ideas for how to use the land, but there is one thing to be agreed upon: the land needs to be protected from external threats and maintained in the name of sound ecological conservation and reduced impact enjoyment of the landscape so many of us call home. 

What began as a small meeting of concerned individuals grew into a movement which includes numerous organizations and individuals. In the words of Sue Morse: “Multiple organizations, multiple packages, all coming together with solutions. It’s exciting—and it works.” The product is something to be proud of: thousands of acres of conserved land with no end in sight so far. It may have seemed overwhelming at first, but 13 years later, the efforts of just a few people have gone on to affect millions of Vermont residents of the future, and equally important, the future habitat of wildlife who belong to the Green Mountains as well. 

Not only are cases like these important to the structure of conservation efforts, but they serve most importantly as inspiration, for this state, for this region, for this project, and for me...especially when I find myself overwhelmed with challenges. 

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This post collected information and was inspired by the CCUP article in Vermont Land Trust's Spring 2011 newsletter. It, and other great articles, can be accessed through that link. 

There are several amazing partners in Vermont working together to make this state more habitable in the future for humans and wildlife alike. Their sites can be accessed below: 

Vermont Land Trust

The Nature Conservancy

Green Mountain Club

V.A.S.T.

C.R.A.G.

No Landscape Is Permanent

Our landscape is under constant change. In the late 1950s, Vermont's Interstate 89 was designated to travel from Waterbury to Bolton and construction began with haste. Interstates across the country brought new economic development along with permanent residents, and the Green Mountain State was no exception.

Interstate 89 between Bolton and Waterbury in the late 1950s. Note the cleared hillsides encroaching into the Green Mountains.

Interstate 89 between Bolton and Waterbury in the late 1950s. Note the cleared hillsides encroaching into the Green Mountains.

Until this point, human populations in Vermont had been on the decline ever since the booming railroad industry that brought many young New Englanders from their homes and into the Great West. For the first time in nearly one hundred years, resident and tourist growth began to boom, fueling permanent settlement and a ski industry that moved the state rapidly into the late 20th century. 

After decades of regrowth and rehabilitation of viable wildlife habitat, Vermont would once again undergo a change (not nearly as dramatic as the clearing of nearly 80% of the state's forest for pasture & logging) that disregarded natural communities in favor of economic stimulus. By the end of the Interstate creation, rocks had been blasted, tree stands had been cleared, and a new highway sat in wary proximity to the Winooski River and cut through the chain of the Green Mountains.  

A view of the same section in 1960 upon completion of the highway.

No landscape is ever permanent. Vermont's Green Mountains once stood as high as the Himalayas, sat next to a great sea, and were once (for more than 96% of the land's existence) covered in glacial ice or tundra. It is unwise to hope to clear away the highway for the sole purpose of "what the land used to be". But for this same reason, it is also unwise to believe that this interstate is all there is and all there ever can be. As we move further into the 21st century and witness the arrival of new technology, new energy innovations, and new ways of thinking, can we not imagine our coexistence with the natural world as well?

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Images used by permission from the Vermont Historical Society. Copyright 2006, Vermont Historical Society. All rights reserved. 

For more information regarding...
Vermont Interstate construction, please see: http://www.freedomandunity.org/vt_transition/interstate.html 

Vermont population trends please see: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/626203/Vermont/272487/Demographic-trends

Vermont landscape studies please see: Wessels, Tom. (1997). Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England.   Woodstock, VT: The Countryman's Press. 

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.