Second Nature

Improving Transportation
Without Putting Nature Second

Presenter, Affiliation
Event or Conference
Date

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 Presentation Outline
• Introduction • Solutions Cont’d
• Impacts – Wildlife Crossings
• Solutions – Public Lands
– Conservation – Native Vegetation
Planning • Conclusion
– Conservation • Recommendation
Banking s
– Interagency
Coordination

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 Introduction
• Transportation projects often have major
impacts on the environment
• The federal environmental review process,
NEPA, has been unfairly blamed for causing
project delays, and is the focus of several
efforts to “streamline” the environmental
review process
• Several states have implemented programs
or processes by which they can both protect
the environment and improve project
delivery

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 The Many Threats of
Transportation
• Roadkill
• Habitat Loss

Photo by Patricia White, Defenders of Wildlife

• Air and Soil Pollution
• Water Pollution
• Noise Pollution
• Invasive Species
• Sprawl

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 Roadkill
• 1 million vertebrates killed every day
• For some species, roadkill rate exceeds death
rate from natural causes
• Some species are particularly threatened by
collisions with cars
– Florida panther
– Florida black bear

Photo by Chuck Bartlebaugh

– Key deer
– Grizzly bear

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 Habitat Loss
• The most significant threat to endangered
species, imperiling 85% of those species
• Direct habitat loss
• Fragmentation
• Habitat degradation
• Road effect zone impacts
15 to 20 percent of the land
area of the U.S.

Andy Singer
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 Air and Soil Pollution
• Motor vehicles are a primary source
of pollutants
– One study of
important roadside
pollutants found that
83% came from cars
and trucks
• Air pollutants
• Acid rain
• Toxics
• Heavy metals
• Road salts
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 Water Pollution
• Roads and highways are impervious
surfaces
– A one-acre parking lot produces about 16
times as much runoff as a one-acre meadow
– When more than 10% of a watershed is
covered by impervious surfaces, waterways
become biologically degraded
• Erosion
• Nutrient loading
• Heavy metals and other pollutants
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 Noise Pollution
• Noise from cars and trucks is a primary
reason for road avoidance
• Causes stress in animals
– Increased heart rates
– Increased production of stress hormones
• Abnormal reproductive behavior
• Noise levels as low as that in a library
have been found to have an impact

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 Invasive Species
• Impact nearly half of endangered
species
• Cost the U.S. about $137 billion
annually

(www.invasives.org)
Norman E. Rees, USDA ARS
• Roads help spread invasives
– Direct planting of invasives
– Road maintenance
– Acting as corridors
– Degraded habitat more
more favorable to invasives
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 Sprawl
Roads and highways facilitate development
•

– Highway-oriented
development tends to
be auto-oriented and
low density
– Sprawling
development
encourages more
driving
– Sprawling
development leads to
more road-building Adapted from the Greenbelt Alliance, Reviving the
Sustainable Metropolis: Guiding Bay Area Conservation
and Development into the 21st Century (San Francisco:
Greenbelt Alliance, 1989), p.9

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 Solutions
• Some states have attempted to lessen
the environmental impacts of
transportation projects through:
– Integrated Planning
– Conservation Banking
– Interagency Coordination
– Wildlife Crossings
– Alternative Transportation on Public Lands
– Use of Native Vegetation

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 Integrated Planning
• An approach that coordinates habitat
conservation, land use, and
transportation
• Occurs in advance of project
development
• Uses GIS mapping to identify potential
conflicts

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Florida’s Planning Process
• Efficient Transportation Decision Making (ETDM) Process
• Proposed transportation
projects are screened by
regional Environmental
Technical Advisory
Teams based on criteria
including social and
environmental impacts
• Overlays maps of short-
and long-range
transportation plans on
maps showing state
habitat plan

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 Sonoran Desert
Conservation Plan
• SDCP was developed in
response to the listing of a
pygmy owl species
• Identified six habitat types
• Especially ecologically or
culturally sensitive areas are

Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection

designated as Environmentally
Sensitive Lands (ESL)
• Transportation projects
proposed for ESL areas must
minimize disturbances to
natural and cultural resources

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Key Deer Habitat Conservation
Plan
• Established because of high
roadkill rate of endangered Key
deer
• Takes into account the impact
of potential development on the
Key deer
• Covers residential, commercial,
and transportation

Refuge
USFWS/National Key Deer
infrastructure development
• Will ultimately provide basis of
a Master Plan for future
development

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 Recommendations for
Integrated Planning
• Utilize existing landscape-level
conservations plans
• States should adopt a Comprehensive
Wildlife Conservation Plan
• Identify mitigation sites or banks in
advance of project impacts
• Provide adequate training on the
incorporation of conservation planning
• Monitor planning initiatives
• Involve the public
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 Opportunities for
Integrated Planning in
Reauthorization
• Add a planning objective for wildlife
conservation
• Provide support to states to acquire and
utilize biodiversity plans
• Reward states that incorporate
conservation plans to promote
ecological stewardship
• Provide funding for scenario-planning
technology

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 Conservation Banking
• Large, contiguous areas of viable
habitat are purchased and protected in
anticipation of future demands for
transportation project mitigation
• Where a project has impacts that
cannot be avoided, the sponsoring
agency can apply mitigation credits
earned under the conservation bank
• Conservation banking is proactive
rather than piecemeal
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 Colorado’s Shortgrass
Prairie Initiative
• Developed by Colorado DOT, FHWA, USFWS, Colorado
Division of Wildlife, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
• Established in anticipation of
impacts from the 20-year state
transportation plan
• Colorado DOT and FHWA will
develop land-management
plans to meet mitigation

Ron Singer, USFWS

requirements
• TNC and other organizations
will act as hosts, managing
and overseeing the protected
habitat

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North Carolina’s Palmetto Pear
Tree Preserve
• Established by the North Carolina DOT,
USFWS, and The Conservation Fund
(TCF) to protect habitat for the
endangered red-cockaded woodpecker
• 9,732 acres of habitat purchased by
NCDOT from Pru Timber
• TCF will manage the site
• NCDOT can use credits from the
conservation bank only when a
transportation project has unavoidable
impacts

Corbis
• The credit ratio will range from 1:1 to
3:1, to be decided on a case-by-case
basis

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 Recommendations for
Conservation Banking
• Use conservation banking only when
avoiding and minimizing impacts is
impossible
• Create a revolving fund to help states
acquire habitat
• Use conservation plans to identify the
most ecologically valuable lands for
banking
• Site conservation banks strategically
• Develop a statewide MOU among all
involved parties
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 Opportunities for
Conservation Banking in
•
Reauthorization
Create a federal revolving fund to help
states acquire important habitat
• Encourage states to use conservation
plans to identify banking opportunities
• Establish a small business loan program
to encourage entrepreneurs in
conservation banking
• Amend the banking preference to allow
maximum flexibility for the most
effective mitigation

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Interagency Coordination
• Established in response to
“environmental streamlining” provisions
of TEA-21
• Encourages collaboration between
transportation agencies and natural and
cultural resource agencies
• Formal or informal working groups
• Has the potential to reduce project delay
and better protect the environment

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 Oregon’s CETAS Program
• Collaborative Environmental and Transportation
Agreement for Streamlining
• Established a working relationship between ten state
and federal agencies
• Involves resource agencies early and continuously in
the planning stage of major projects
• Oregon DOT seeks concurrence from the agencies in
the project’s purpose and need, range of alternatives to
be studied, criteria for selecting a preferred alternative,
and selection of the preferred alternative
• Oregon DOT also funds several positions at resource
agencies

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 California’s Tri-Agency
Partnership
• Established a partnership between the California
Environmental Protection Agency, the Resources
Agency, and the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency
• Encourages member agencies to work together early
and continuously
• Works to ensure the timely delivery of transportation
projects that protect or restore the state’s environment
• Has helped instill a greater awareness of opportunities
to incorporate environmental enhancements in
transportation projects

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 Recommendations for
Interagency Coordination
• Fund FTEs at resource agencies
• Establish Environmental Review
Committees composed of high-level
representatives from relevant state and
federal agencies
• Environmental Review Committee
should meet regularly to discuss
upcoming projects

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 Opportunities for
Interagency Coordination
in Reauthorization
• Retain Section 1309
• Provide financial incentives for states to
adopt coordination agreements
• Reward states that show progress in project
delivery by working in coordination with
agencies and the public
• Allow resource agencies to apply directly to
DOT for eligible reimbursement funding

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 Wildlife Crossings
• Roads fragment habitat, contributing to
the loss of genetic integrity, and
causing roadkill
• Wildlife crossings are intended to
connect habitat that has been
fragmented by a road or highway
• Wildlife crossings originated in Europe
and include both overpasses and
underpasses

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 Florida’s Wildlife
Crossings
• Collisions with cars and trucks threatens to push the
endangered Florida panther to extinction
• In the reconstruction of
Alligator Alley (re-
designated as I-75), Florida
DOT installed 24
underpasses
• Roadkill and radio telemetry
data were assessed to
determine the best locations
for the underpasses

USFWS
• Fences were installed along
the highway to help direct
animals to the underpasses
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 Montana’s U.S. 93
• The reconstruction of US 93 had been very contentious, prompting strong public outcry and
keeping the project in limbo for many years

• More recently, Montana DOT and

its contractors made a concerted
effort to involve the public in the
reconstruction design

Wildlife
Patricia White, Defenders of
• The new effort called for the
reconstruction to incorporate a
“spirit of place”
• That “spirit of place” or context
sensitive design will include at
least 42 wildlife crossings,
ranging from fish culverts to
open-span overpasses

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 Recommendations for
Wildlife Crossings
• Conduct habitat connectivity studies to
determine the best locations for crossings
• Retrofit existing roadways to include
crossings
• Ensure the success of crossings by
acquiring habitat on either side of the
roadway
• Monitor the crossings
• Use signs to alert motorists of wildlife
• Reduce speed limits in wildlife areas
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 Opportunities for Wildlife
Crossings in
Reauthorization
• Maintain funding for the Transportation
Enhancements program at present levels or
higher
• Provide research funding for habitat
connectivity studies
• Enable states to use federal funds to construct
crossings even when no other roadway work is
being done
• Create a safety grant program to encourage
states to build crossings to reduce collisions
between motorists and animals

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 Public Lands
• Federal lands provide habitat for about
two-thirds of threatened or endangered
species
• Public land managers must provide access
to the public while protecting biodiversity
• A car-oriented strategy to providing public
access has led National Parks and Refuges
to become choked with polluting, noisy
traffic
• Some National Parks and Refuges are now
turning to public transit to provide access
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Utah’s Zion National Park
Shuttle Bus
• Zion National Park had been overwhelmed by cars, RVs,
and tour buses
• Traffic congestion, lack of
parking, air pollution, and noise
was frustrating visitors and
park managers
• In response, the park began
offering free shuttle buses
during peak months, at the

National Park Service

same time prohibiting private
vehicles
• The shuttles, including 2
electric buses, are popular with
visitors
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 Texas’s Santa Ana
National Wildlife Refuge
Tram
• The Santa Ana National Wildlife
Refuge interpretative tram has
been operating for more than 15
years
• Cooperative effort between the
Valley Nature Center and the
National Wildlife Refuge
• Private vehicles are prohibited
from the Refuge when the tram
is in operation

Mike Quinn
• Annual ridership exceeds 6,000
passengers

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 Recommendations for
Public Lands
• Maintain roads on public lands in an
environmentally-sensitive manner,
and use only native species in ROWs
• Practice context-sensitive solutions
• Weigh the need for additional roads
against environmental impacts
• Increase public awareness of wildlife
needs
• Provide alternatives to driving
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 Opportunities for Public
Lands in Reauthorization
• Reauthorize and fully fund the
National Scenic Byways, Emergency
Relief for Federally-Owned Roads,
Recreational Trails, and Transportation
Enhancements programs
• Increase funding for Fix-it-First
programs on public lands
• Provide dedicated funding for
alternative transportation

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 Native Vegetation
• Invasive species threaten biodiversity and
cause $137 billion in economic losses
annually
• 1999 Executive Order seeks “to prevent
the introduction of invasive species and
provide for their control”
• US DOT Policy Statement directed state
DOTs to actively implement the Executive
Order
• FHWA issued guidelines to help states
meet these directives
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 Iowa’s Living Roadway
Program
• Established through a partnership between the Iowa DOT and
the Roadside Management Program at the University of
Northern Iowa
• Roadside ROW provides
600,000 acres of prairie
habitat in Iowa
• The program establishes a
trust fund to provide funds for
the development and

Program
Iowa Living Roadway
implementation of Integrated
Roadside Vegetation
Management plans
• Requires 50 percent of trees
and shrubs, and all grasses
and forbs to be native species

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 Recommendations for
Native Vegetation
• Develop and adopt Integrated Roadside
Vegetation Management plans
• Coordinate and compile vegetation inventories
• Establish statewide invasives clearinghouses
• Provide training
• Develop education programs for the public
• Sponsor pilot projects
• Conduct research and monitoring of project sites
• Reward managers and communities for exemplary
efforts

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 Opportunities for Native
Vegetation in
Reauthorization
• Provide funding for statewide inventories of
vegetation in ROWs
• Require discontinuation of non-native
species in vegetation management
• Provide incentives for native species
restoration
• Institute a small business loan program for
growers to establish native seeds and stock
• Provide funding to educate and train
practitioners on native vegetation

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 Conclusion
• Conflicts between transportation and
biodiversity have never been greater
• Current efforts to weaken NEPA will do
little to improve project delivery and
could seriously jeopardize the natural
and cultural resources
• Instead, many states and agencies are
beginning to recognize that there are
ways to both meet transportation needs
and do a better job of protecting
environmental and cultural resources
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 Conclusion Cont’d
• The states and agencies profiled in this report
have met these dual goals through innovative
practices such as:
– Comprehensively planning for biodiversity
conservation
– Proactively mitigating environmental impacts
through conservation banking and wildlife crossings
– Improving coordination among transportation and
resource agencies
– Promoting alternative transportation on public lands
– Promoting the use of native vegetation

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 Recommendations
1. Integrate conservation
planning into
transportation planning
2. Use conservation banking
in concert with large scale
conservation plans to
mitigate for unavoidable
impacts
3. Coordinate with resource
agencies early,
substantively, and
continuously throughout
the planning process and
project development
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4. Build wildlife crossings
where necessary to repair
ecological damage and
restore connectivity
5. Provide alternative
transportation and
maintain roads on public
lands in a manner
consistent with
surrounding natural
resources
6. Use only native species in
roadside vegetation
management
For More Information…

Habitat and Highways Campaign

www.defenders.org/habitat/highways

www.transact.org

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