Testing ‘wildlife friendly’ fence modifications to manage wildlife and livestock movements

Generally, fences along roadways serve as safety measures to humans from vehicular collisions with wildlife and livestock by containing animals in appropriate pastures and keeping them off roadways. However, fences can act as semi-permeable or complete barriers to wildlife movement. As a consequence, through landscape fragmentation, fences reduce landscape connectivity, impede resource selection, and in addition, are a direct cause of mortality in ungulates (e.g. pronghorn, elk, deer) and other species (e.g. sage-grouse). To combat these effects on wildlife, multiple fence modifications have been recommended by management agencies to either facilitate or deter wildlife and/or livestock from crossing fences. However, none of these ‘wildlife friendly’ fence modifications have ever critically been tested for effectiveness. Further, there is not a clear understanding on the effects of fence densities on wildlife movements and on large scale connectivity. Agencies need effective approaches and tools to identify and prioritize locations to install ‘wildlife friendly’ fencing when considering mitigation measures for wildlife movement at both small and large scales, all while keeping livestock in proper pastures. We have deployed 40 remote cameras in MT and ~50 cameras in AB to capture and process images of wildlife interacting with fencing. Standardized procedures across study sites allow us to collect uniform data on wildlife-fence interactions and assess wildlife and livestock use based on statistical procedures.

• Record URL:
  http://www.mdt.mt.gov/research/projects/env/wildlife_fence_mods.shtml
• Supplemental Notes:
  • FUNDING MATCH SOURCE AND AMOUNT: National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF): $119,000, Sage-grouse Initiative: $20,000

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $62,000
• Sponsor Organizations:

  University of Montana, Missoula

  Missoula, MT  United States  59812

  The Nature Conservancy - MT Chapter

  32 South Ewing
  Suite 215
  Helena, MT  United States  59601

  Alberta Conservation Association - Lethbridge

  817-4th Avenue South
  #400
  Lethbridge, Alberta  Canada  T1J 0P6
• Managing Organizations:

  Montana Department of Transportation

  2701 Prospect Avenue
  P.O. Box 201001
  Helena, MT  United States  59620-1001
• Project Managers:

  Sillick, Susan

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Montana, Missoula

  Missoula, MT  United States  59812
• Principal Investigators:

  Jakes, Andrew

• Start Date: 20170430
• Expected Completion Date: 20181231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fences; Wildlife; Wildlife crossings
• Subject Areas: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01646214
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Montana Department of Transportation
• Files: RiP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 19 2017 12:20PM