Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

MSU News Service

An MSU researcher and a former MSU graduate student have been featured in a Times story about over- and underpasses for wildlife, which have been advanced by MSU’s Western Transportation Institute for nearly two decades.

A Montana State University researcher and a former MSU graduate student have been featured in a New York Times story about wildlife crossing structures, which have been advanced by MSU's Western Transportation Institute for nearly two decades.

The May 31 article includes longtime WTI road ecologist Marcel Huijser discussing how the structures, in combination with wildlife fences, reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions that cost billions of dollars annually in the U.S. in terms of vehicle damage, medical expenses, towing and carcass removal.

Regarding the engineered over- and underpass structures, the story quotes Whisper Camel-Means, who earned her master's degree in fish and wildlife management at MSU while serving as a fellow at WTI, as saying, "It's safer for people and it's safer for animals."

While at WTI, Camel-Means conducted research that supported the design and construction of 42 wildlife crossing structures along a stretch of Montana's Highway 93 through her home reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, where she now serves as the tribal wildlife program manager.

Along with a similar complex of crossings along a roughly 51-mile stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff National Park, which has also heavily involved WTI research demonstrating the efficacy of the structures, the Highway 93 project has inspired other crossings around the U.S., especially in the western half of the country where roads divide large areas of public land that's habitat for mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, grizzly bears and other animals, many with ancient migration routes that now intersect highways.

The Times article features numerous videos and photos — captured by wildlife cameras installed at the crossings — showing animals using the wide, bridge-like overpasses and culvert underpasses, including photos of a grizzly bear, raccoon, mallards and a snowshoe hare using the Highway 93 structures.

Huijser has authored numerous publications about wildlife crossing, including the first report presented to Congress on the subject, which pulled together early studies and examples from around the world to make the case for investment in the structures in the U.S. Another longtime WTI researcher, Tony Clevenger, has conducted one of the longest-running studies of how wildlife use the crossings, focusing on how the structures foster genetic connectivity among populations of grizzly bears and wolverines that have been fragmented by the highway in Banff. According to Clevenger's research, as of 2018 nearly a dozen species of large mammals had used the Banff structures more than 150,000 times, and the mortality rates for large carnivores such as grizzly bears dropped 50% to 100% where the crossings are installed.

WTI has been involved with wildlife crossing research around the world and continues to advance the science of the structures through wildlife research, collaboration with other researchers and practitioners, and workshops aimed at developing innovative materials and designs.