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Animal bridges

Discussion in 'Wildlife & Nature Conservation' started by vogelcommando, 8 Jan 2020.

  1. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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    For a number of animal-species bridges have been build to connect habitat used by this species. Well known are Spider and howler monkey bridges in Middle America.
    Now also some bridges have been made for Javan slow loris :) :

    Bridges in the sky help slow lorises keep to the trees
     
  2. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  3. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  4. Onychorhynchus coronatus

    Onychorhynchus coronatus Well-Known Member

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    Yep, this is a brilliant idea and the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado have been working hard at achieving this for years.

    Recently this organization had several extremely negative situations with the Bolsonaro administration and things were getting really very difficult indeed.

    I'm very glad that this NGO have managed to overcome these unnecessary obstacles put in their way and despite the odds are still fighting hard to secure the future of this species in the wild.
     
  5. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  6. vogelcommando

    vogelcommando Well-Known Member 10+ year member

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  7. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Wildlife overpass east of Canmore to be built 2021-22

    A long-awaited $7 million overpass east of Canmore is on the provincial government’s capital books for 2021-22.

    Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews said Alberta Transportation has completed its detailed design of an overpass for the Trans-Canada Highway near Bow Valley Gap – to be the first of its kind in Alberta outside of Banff National Park.

    “The project is included in our capital plan for construction to begin in 2021-22 and would take about a year and a half to construct,” Toews said in response to questions from Banff-Kananaskis MLA Miranda Rosin in the legislature on Tuesday (Nov. 17).

    The Bow Valley is one of the most important regional wildlife corridors in Alberta and it’s also a busy thoroughfare for people, with a daily average of 24,600 vehicles buzzing by on the Trans-Canada Highway.

    Deer, elk, bighorn sheep, moose, cougars, lynx, wolves, black and grizzly bears use the high quality habitat along the Bow River valley bottom to move between the protected areas of Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country.

    It’s considered critical in the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) link.

    A growing body of scientific research from around the world shows crossing structures and associated wildlife exclusion highway fencing helps prevent car crashes and saves the lives of both animals and people.

    Wildlife overpass east of Canmore to be built 2021-22 - RMOToday.com
     
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  8. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Here is an example of a wildlife overpass in Utah.

    From the Utah Division of Wildlife Rescorces Facebook page;

    "It's working! Thanks to the Utah Department of Transportation and Utah State University for monitoring the Parley's Canyon wildlife overpass this year. As you can see, the 2nd year of this overpass has been successful at helping wildlife safely migrate over busy Interstate 80 and helping motorists be much safer as well. Please keep off of this overpass. Thanks!"

     
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  9. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Here is a video from Vox about wildlife overpasses. I am glad that they did a segment on this!

     
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  10. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    I am grateful to see Los Angeles taking action on this issue!

    "This massive wildlife crossing will help protect wildlife from L.A. drivers on the 101

    The project will break ground in 2021 and let the city’s mountain lions access more habitat without risking getting hit by cars.

    The mountain lions living in Los Angeles—and yes, mountain lions do manage to survive in the second-largest city in the U.S.—the 101 freeway is a major barrier to their daily routines. The same is true for other wildlife. But plans to build a massive wildlife crossing over a 10-lane stretch of the freeway just north of the city are now in the final phase of design and engineering. The project will be the largest bridge of its kind in the world.

    Reconnecting the open space on either side of the freeway is crucial for wildlife. “We know from science what’s going on there, and it’s a little deeper than just that the animals are getting hit by cars,” says Beth Pratt of the National Wildlife Federation, one of several partner organizations working on the project. “They are becoming genetically isolated, because animals cannot move into the small islands of habitat that are created by our freeways.” The situation is most acute for mountain lions, who risk extinction in the area within decades, but other wildlife, from lizards to birds, are also showing a decline in genetic diversity."

    This massive wildlife crossing will help protect wildlife from L.A. drivers on the 101
     
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  11. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    It is great to see Florida utilizing the wildlife overpasses and underpasses. As it shows in the video below from the YouTube channel of the Center for Biological Diversity, endangered species and subspecies like Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi) seem to be benefiting from that system.

     
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  12. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Largest Wildlife Bridge In U.S. Opens Friday At San Antonio's Hardberger Park

    For the first time, San Antonians are expected to cross the newly completed Robert L.B. Tobin Land Bridge at Phil Hardberger Park in the north central side of the city.

    Construction barriers will be removed from the bridge over Wurzbach Parkway at 1 p.m. this Friday, according to a news release.

    The bridge will be covered with native trees and plants and connects the previously divided 330-acre park.

    Largest Wildlife Bridge In U.S. Opens Friday At San Antonio's Hardberger Park


     
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  13. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Sweden to build reindeer bridges over roads and railways

    ‘Renoducts’ will help animals who have to roam further for food due to global heating

    Sweden is to build up to a dozen bridges so reindeer can safely cross railway lines and major roads in the north of the country as global heating forces them to roam further afield in search of food.

    The public broadcaster Sveriges Radio said the transport authority aimed to start work on the first of the new bridges, named “renoducts”, a portmanteau from ren (reindeer) and viaduct, later this year near the eastern city of Umea.

    “In a changing climate with difficult snow conditions, it will be extra important to be able to find and access alternative pastures,” Per Sandström, a landscape ecologist at the Swedish university of agricultural sciences, told the broadcaster.

    Global heating is having a devastating impact on Sweden’s 250,000 reindeer and the 4,500 indigenous Sami owners who are authorised to herd them, with some winter grazing lands still recovering from unprecedented droughts and wildfires.

    https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...r-reindeer-to-safely-cross-roads-and-railways
     
  14. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Here is another relevant article

    "Nepal needs wildlife friendly highways

    Promoting infrastructure that prevents roadskill, while adding to Nepal’s conservation gains.

    On 2 January, the news of an adult tigress struck by a vehicle in Mahendra Highway made the rounds on social media. The photo of the striped big cat sprawled on the asphalt in a pool of blood touched many.

    But there was also anger. The roadkill followed the killing by another tiger of a middle-aged woman on a motorcycle with her son in the same stretch of highway."

    Nepal needs wildlife friendly highways
     
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  15. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

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  16. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Very interesting! Have you seen or photographed those bridges yourself? If so, I would be interested in seeing these photos uploaded here.
     
  17. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Administrator Staff Member 20+ year member

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    Yes, there's a couple not far from where I live - will try and get a photo next time I'm driving past.
     
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  18. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Awesome, I look forward to seeing that.
     
  19. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    Here is a relevant article.

    Reports Offer Guidance on Why and How to Build Wildlife Crossings

    Wildlife-vehicle collisions take a toll on our environment and society in many ways. They endanger wildlife populations, cause human injuries and deaths, and cost US taxpayers billions of dollars a year. Well-designed wildlife road-crossing structures are a proven solution but are not without challenges. Two reports recently published by the US Forest Service—with contributions from Center for Large Landscape Conservation staff—address these challenges while providing useful information on costs, benefits, and planning of crossing structures.

    Reports Offer Guidance on Why and How to Build Wildlife Crossings
     
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  20. UngulateNerd92

    UngulateNerd92 Well-Known Member Premium Member 5+ year member

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    How long has Sydney had these possum bridges and what made the city decide to install them?