Article that appeared in the Missoulian and has changed the name of "corridors" to "linkage Zones" and has changed the name of "core areas" to "large block of public land" What they are really talking about is restricting access to public land in the name of protecting a threatened species, [that is not threatened] and stopping all commercial use of public land. Y to Y (Yukon to the Yellowstone) core area, buffer zones, and corridors. That is what this article is really talking about.
By SHERRY DELVIN of the Missoulian April 30, 1998
Why did the grizzly bear cross the road? and how, when and where? Federal, state and tribal governments want to know.
Thus a several-year study commissioned by the federal Department of Transportation and designed to gauge the effect of high-speed highways on the threatened species. Starting this summer, the study will monitor the movement of grizzly bears back and forth across U.S. 2 between Glacier National Park and the Great Bear Wilderness, On U.S. 287 between Jackson and Dubious, Wyo., and possibly across highways on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
Bear biologists want to know if grizzlies pick particular places to cross highways - and if those crossing points are selected because of their vegetation, topography or traffic volume, or if bears cross at certain times of the day.
If there are characteristics of highway crossing points, then highway engineers want to know so they can make concessions to bears when they design or re-design highways. highways are a really important issue," said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "highways bisect much of the good grizzly habitat in the Rocky Mountain West. What we're seeing now are increasing levels of vehicle traffic on these highways, and as we see more vehicle traffic, we see calls for improving the highways."
Improvement. of course, often means widening a highway to four Or more lanes, or adding concrete barriers in the middle to prevent head-on collisions - "all those things that promote safety for People, but may reduce the ability of animals to get across these highways, Servheen said Wednesday.
As highways fragment or separate - grizzly bear habitat. they also separate bear populations. And isolated animals are less healthy, "less whole," in Servheen's words. "As you cut up habitat, you get animals into smaller and smaller units, and that is not good."
The new study is a mult-agency effort funded ($80,000.00 for the first summer) by the federal Transportation Department, conducted by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, Blackfeet Indian reservation Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wyoming Fish and Game, and the interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.
1. How much is the total amount of money that will be spent on this project even though the money is spread out in several agencies so it is difficult to come up with a real figure of the total cost for the project. In reality it is probably in the millions -- not $80,000 as suggested here.
2. How many summers, and how many additional dollars will be added to an already astronomical bill? -- All for a purpose that Dr. Craighead says is futile.
"It's a huge deal," said Servheen. "We have been interested in looking at highways for some time," he said. "'We know highways are a fragmentation factor for Populations. The question, though, is at what Volume of traffic or in what configuration does a highway become a problem?" For the study, grizzly bears will be fitted with collars that transmit to Global Positioning System satellites. Normally researchers use bear collars' with a VHF radio that pulses signals to trackers on the ground or in the air. The signals aren't very' accurate in determining the exact location of a bear, and trackers can only fly in good weather and during the day.
The Global Positioning System collars will transmit 24 hours a day, good weather and bad, to satellites. And they'll Pinpoint bear's location within a 30-foot circle.
For the first summer, bears will be located once an hour; 24 hours a day.
By summer's end', Servheen said, researchers will be able to plot each bear's movement and show how, when and where they crossed a highway.
In Wyoming, four to six grizzlies will be collared for the first field season. On U.S. 2 north of Glacier Park, Servheen first will use radio collars on bears to find which grizzlies use the highway or have the Potential to cross back and forth.
"We don't want to put a GPS collar On a bear and have it head off into the Bob Marshall with the collar on and never use the highway corridor again," Servheen said. "These collars are pretty expensive."
"We want to select bears that we know something about, that live near highways, Servheen said. "Then we'll put GPS collars on them."
The grizzly study also should help biologists and transportation engineers talk about ways to offset the effects of highways on other Carnivores, including lynxes, wolverines and wolves, Servheen said.
"We need to understand how highways affect these species so we can better provide for their survival," he said.
"There are", Servheen said, "so Called "Linkage Zones" of public land in the Rocky Mountains. Animals must use the linkage Zones to move from one block to another. "But in every linkage Zone there is a highway or several highways," Servheen said. "And every highway is trouble"..
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