Local nonprofit Roaring Fork Safe Passages is taking a closer look at the wildlife fence along Highway 82 to better understand where animals may be crossing, over or through the fence and onto the road.
A local nonprofit is set to use drones and other technology to map a stretch of Highway 82 to better understand wildlife crossing options.
Roaring Fork Safe Passages (RFSP) is in the second phase of its work to plan infrastructure to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions in the Roaring Fork Valley. A preliminary prioritization study identified a stretch of Highway 82 from the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport to the Woody Creek area as the best place to invest in land mapping and infrastructure feasibility. It runs from mile marker 32.5 to mile marker 37.3.
According to RFSP data, the segment averages 5.2 wildlife-vehicle collisions per mile, including 95 collisions with elk over a 10-year period. In 2000, the Colorado Department of Transportation installed 36.2 miles of wildlife fencing and culverts along the sections.
Julia Kintsch is the principal of ECO Resolutions, a Denver-based environmental consulting firm contracted by RFSP.
“We know how to design fences to prevent animals from entering the fenced area of the road,” he said. “When you have a section of road fence and an animal enters, it stays inside the fence. It is difficult for them to get out and they can be disruptive. This is also bad for everyone.”
For example, many types of wildlife have been captured on camera using the tube. Elk, but not a moose, because of their large size. He said a longer, wider tube would be more suitable for the animals.
Installed by the Colorado Department of Transportation in 2000, this culvert works well for many species of wildlife to cross Highway 82 without crossing the road. However, they seemed to avoid the ditch because it is too narrow.
Cecile DeAngelo is the director of RFSP. She said working at the local level with stakeholder engagement makes it much easier to open the door to state and federal funding.
“Once we’ve built coalitions like this, it will be easier and in a better fiscal position to go to CDOT and ask for help with this type of project,” he said. “Or to ask for this type of project to move forward or be prioritized instead of something that wasn’t necessarily at the top of their work plan.”
Over the next several months, RFSP will work with the contractor using drone photogrammetry to develop highly accurate terrain and models, potential crossing locations, and obtain cost estimates for the work.
Most options, including overpasses and grade-separated crossings, are still being considered, Kintsch said.
Habitat fragmentation, development, and recreation threaten wildlife. Finding a suitable location for wildlife crossing requires consideration of the surrounding terrain. Land preserved as open space or publicly owned is ideal, but land is increasingly being developed. If it is not an area where they roam, wildlife may cross agricultural land, commercial development, or even a landfill. One of the most popular sites is the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center, where chickens have been known to roost in compost piles and bears find their primary food source.
One-way gates along wildlife fences used to be a best practice for wildlife fences, but now they dominate escape ramps.
DeAngelo and Kintsch said thinking about crossing habitats won’t relieve wildlife of the problems they face or restore past migration patterns, but it is an important piece of the conservation puzzle.
“From a connectivity standpoint, I think we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are we OK with losing all of the animals’ ability to move north or south of the highway?’” Kinch said. “We can lose that because of development, because of the highway, because of traffic, because of other activities that we do.”
They said working with local stakeholders to protect the remaining lands is as important as connecting infrastructure.
Pitkin County Open Spaces and Trails, the city of Aspen and the town of Snowmass Village are slated to fund Phase II operations. The final phase has already been funded with private donations, DeAngelo said.
Once design work is complete and stakeholders help guide the preferred crossing plan, RFSP will work with CDOT to seek state and federal funding to implement the project.
Kintsch said smaller goals, such as upgrading existing walls or widening channels, can come first, while larger-scale projects take more time. Escape ramps can be easily installed on the side of existing fences, providing an easier exit route for the animal than a one-way gate.
RFSP is hosting an event to educate the public and raise awareness about funding strategies for wildlife crossings. From 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 4, at Gantt Rooftop, RFSP Beth Pratt, the woman behind the $90 million campaign to fund wildlife crossings over the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles, will host. Angeles.
DeAngelo encouraged people to RSVP by emailing her at cecily@roaringforksafepassages.org.
