Road Ecology Center

Tracking techniques were used along US 2 and NH 115 in the towns of Jefferson and Randolph, NH to record geo-referenced wildlife highway-crossing data for GIS-based analysis. Over 7000 track sets from 22 species were recorded from December 2005 through May 2006. Moose, red fox, white-tailed deer, and coyotes left most tracks. A substantial number of fisher and bobcat were also recorded. This data set is unique in size and the number of carnivores recorded. Analyses completed for this report indicate that variations in landscape scale habitat composition in the study area were correlated with variations in wildlife crossing rates at the landscape scale. Different species also showed different affinities for the roadside at this scale. At the local scale, the rate of moose crossing was higher in locations with mixed forest cover types and where guardrails end, but not in locations with high moose/vehicle collision rates. Crossing by predators, excluding red fox, increased with the presence of coniferous cover types, and the rate of deer crossing increased with the presence of open cover types. Additional analyses at the roadside scale will be conducted and results will be available at a later date.