Workshop Introduction
By Amanda Hardy & Marcel Huijser, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University

[View slides, 863KB pdf]

On September 10-12, 2002, the Wildlife Crossing Structures Field Course was conducted at the Marriott Residence Inn in Canmore, Alberta (Canada). Amanda Hardy and Marcel Huijser, ecologists for the Western Transportation Institute, which served as the lead organizer for the workshop, welcomed the group and acknowledged the sponsoring organizations: WTI, Federal Highway Administration, USDA Forest Service, and the Center for Transportation and the Environment at North Carolina State University. The course drew a total of 55 participants, representing primarily FHWA headquarters and division offices as well as state transportation agencies. (View participant list.)

The objectives of the three-day course, which included a field trip into Banff National Park to view crossing structures in place along the Parks Canada Highway, were to:

(1) Discuss wildlife crossing structure considerations (e.g., planning, permitting and streamlining, cost, placement, design and landscaping, maintenance, monitoring and effectiveness)
(2) Discuss how to incorporate wildlife mitigation techniques into transportation programs
(3) Discuss how to “spread the word” about promising techniques, planning practices, and successful interdisciplinary partnerships

While the workshop introduced practical strategies for mitigating the negative impacts of transportation infrastructure on ecosystems, Huijser noted that the overarching goal of the workshop (and related efforts) is ultimately to help achieve effective mobility within sustainable landscapes that are ecologically, socially, and economically sound. One step toward accomplishing this is to incorporate ecological considerations earlier into the transportation planning process in order to minimize the “road effect zone” and its impacts on natural landscapes. In addition, coordination with land use management priorities (public and non-public) remains a significant factor toward achieving long-term sustainability.

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