The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) conducted an evaluation of existing wildlife habitat and movement corridors within southeast Portland, where a new section of highway (the Sunrise Corridor) is proposed. The purpose was to develop a comprehensive strategy to preserve and enhance connections for wildlife passage potentially impacted by the Sunrise Corridor project. The evaluation illustrates limitations to urban wildlife protection that are not typically considered. The proposed alignment and alternatives for Sunrise Corridor project are located in an area that is rapidly growing with urban development but still retains some relatively large natural habitat areas. According to local naturalists, wildlife use of both areas is still fairly high within the context of the urban surroundings. We identified key wildlife movement corridors between the remaining large habitat patches as well as existing and potential barriers to wildlife passage. Larger mammals (e.g., coyote and deer) and migratory song birds were the focal species. We found that approximately 50% of existing wildlife habitat and movement corridors is vulnerable to future planned and potential development as a result of current zoning and land use ordinances. Existing commercial and residential development already constricts the main wildlife corridor, and wildlife access between the remaining habitat patches in the area will be severed if further zoned development occurs.

Comprehensive Plans for many urban areas have provisions for preservation of large tracts of open space, greenways, and parks, with an interest in maintaining habitat for birds and urban wildlife. However, few Plans identify the need for connections between the habitat patches for wildlife movement, an important component of population fitness. Although ODOT’s proposed highway project is being designed to avoid blocking wildlife passage, wildlife movement corridors will continue to be threatened by urban development unless organizations or individuals outside of ODOT protect key parcels from future development. As the Sunrise Corridor wildlife evaluation demonstrates, if wildlife on the urban interface are to be protected, early identification and conservation of movement corridors are as essential as conservation of habitat patches.

Biographical Sketch: Melinda Trask is an Environmental Project Manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation, with a Master of Science in Plant Ecology from Oregon State University and a Master of Environmental and Regional Planning from Washington State University. Melinda has a broad educational and professional background in ecology of the western United States. She has taught ecology and botany laboratory classes, organized and led field surveys crews for rare plant studies, conducted desert tortoise and peregrine falcon surveys, assisted with fish salvage operations, delineated wetlands, prepared numerous Biological Assessments for Section 7 Endangered Species Act consultations, monitored environmental protection measures during various types of construction projects, and developed site restoration plans. Melinda is currently the co-chair of the Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy, an interagency working group to address wildlife passage in Oregon.

Although there is widespread knowledge of the effects of roads on wildlife populations and driver safety, many transportation departments are reluctant to expend state or federal funds to research and address wildlife movement problems on their highways. For many years, Oregon lacked direction on this issue from natural resource, regulatory, and highway agencies. All groups were at the proverbial standstill for years: the natural resources and regulatory agencies urged ODOT to address the problem of highways as wildlife movement barriers, and ODOT sought guidance from natural resources and regulatory agencies to define the scope of the problem. Additionally, ODOT faced internal resistance to collecting baseline information because of the perception that it was another unfunded environ¬mental mandate. Before the ODOT Geo-Environmental Section proposed a statewide mitigation program for wildlife movement and transportation conflicts, it was necessary to obtain direct support from external natural resources agencies. The Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy was formed in 2006, as an interagency partnership to address wild¬life movement issues in Oregon. Once external support was obtained and documented, Geo-Environmental pursued internal support, particularly from units involved in maintenance, planning, traffic, safety, and the regional technical centers. However, we are continuing to communicate with external and internal stakeholders throughout development of a Wildlife Collision Prevention program for our Agency. The program will provide guidance to ODOT stakeholders for scoping of wildlife passages during project planning and development, funding alternatives, and design considerations for key species

Determining locations where wildlife movement and highway operation conflict is an essential first step in making highways safer for motorists and animals. Using an expert-opinion approach, we identified 86 conflict areas (hot spots) for wildlife along state-maintained roads in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Region 1. Of the 757 miles of highway analyzed, 22% were identified as wildlife hot spots by expert teams, suggesting that the scope of this problem is substantial. Most of these hot spots were locations with frequent deer-vehicle collisions, although some were crossing locations for deer and elk that did not have frequent animal-vehicle collisions. Some hot spots were identified for non-focal species, including northwestern pond turtle, western painted turtle, coyote, bobcat, black bear, and beaver. Hot spots generally were associated with topographic features that directed animals towards highways, the presence of habitat adjacent to highways, or food resources that attracted animals. Six hot spots were considered high priority. The expert-opinion approach employed for this analysis was effective in rapidly assessing many miles of state-maintained highway for the presence of wildlife hot spots and may prove useful in addressing conflicts between wildlife and highways in other locales or on a statewide basis. Not all of the hot spots warrant mitigation, although we suggest that the areas identified in this analysis be examined more carefully during development of projects that may affect wildlife passage.