Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Introducing the Oregon Conservation trategy Oregon Wildlife Movement Data Oregon Chapter Wildlife Society Meeting February 19, 2009

Land use changes Invasive species Changes in fire, flood regimes Water quality and quantity Institutional barriers to voluntary conservation Barriers to fish and wildlife movement Six Key Conservation Issues

Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy Provide a framework for cooperation Promote wildlife movement and habitat permeability Reduce the social, economic and environmental impacts of transportation and wildlife conflicts

Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy ODFW data collection

Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy Wildlife Linkages “Best place to provide for animal movement needs, with an emphasis on areas that cross roads” ODFW convened four workshops in 2007 –Review session at The Wildlife Society –Bend, Roseburg, La Grande & Alsea Linkage areas

Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy ODFW linkage workshops Breakout sessions worked with existing maps and with GISBreakout sessions worked with existing maps and with GIS Product: Identified linkage areas that cross transportation corridors throughout the stateProduct: Identified linkage areas that cross transportation corridors throughout the state

Integrate and set priorities Workshop-ranked: –High value for focal species –High Threat value Land Ownership In a Conservation Opportunity Area In an ODOT Roadkill hotspot

Result: linkages dataset with current priorities for Oregon

Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy ODOT data collection

Oregon's Animal-Vehicle Collisions CRASH RECORDS: Avg. 400 wildlife collisions/yr, 14 yrs About 5,500 records statewide Less than 3% of all crash reports in Oregon DISPATCH CARCASS REPORTS: Avg. 2,600 wildlife collisions/yr, 12 yrs About 32,000 records statewide 6 times more data in similar period

ODOT Wildlife Collision Hot Spot Analysis Conducted by Mason, Bruce and Girard, Inc. Existing carcass pick-up records Statewide, analytical approach Mapped high frequency wildlife-vehicle collision zones Pilot Study results presented in 2008 US Hwy

Carcass Records Wildlife incident dispatch reports, call = RDKILL Animal Type, Deer & Elk 12 yeas of data ( ), statewide Location, +/- 0.5 mile Link Location to GIS Coordinates CAD_NUMCALLDATELOCATIONUNITS RDKILL WALLACE RDHWY RDKILL HELMICK ROAD / 99 SR ;12600 HELMICK RD21AP RDKILL SR3A20P RDKILL SR3A261 99W SR MP / ; SW PAC HWY3A52P RDKILL HWY 212 / FORMORE CT4A30P

Data Preparation Original # Records 31,595 (100%) Step 1 - Data Processing Narrowing Acceptable Parameters25,216 (80%) –Cut out records older than 1995, duplicate records, non deer/elk, low precision (> 0.5 mi) Tabular Information Problems 21,335 (68%) –Not enough information in recorded data Step 2 - Linkage to GIS GIS Mapping Problems17,824 (56%)* Route ≠ ODOT Highway number * Final number of "good" records used in data analysis

Data Analysis Nearest Neighbor Analysis Z-statistic to determine statistical significance of dispersion. Monte Carlo simulations (100 random data sets). Modified for linear nature of data (highway system)Z-statistic to determine statistical significance of dispersion. Monte Carlo simulations (100 random data sets). Modified for linear nature of data (highway system) Results: NNI = 0.xx (< 1.0 indicates clustering) Neither test identifies where the clusters occur Ripley’s K-Statistic K-statistic (Levine, 2000), modified for linear dataK-statistic (Levine, 2000), modified for linear data Gives indication of the scales at which the clusters occurGives indication of the scales at which the clusters occur Results: Highly significant at all scalesResults: Highly significant at all scales

Kernel Density Evaluation Produces an estimate of risk for each point –Relative density of points –Relative proximity of points Shows where clusters occur Subjective classification –Method of categorizing –Ranking or # “bins”

Wildlife Collision Hot Spots Results * * exaggerated for visual aid

Crossing Improvements Hot Spot & Linkage data, precursor to more focused studies –Condition assessment, road kill surveys, wildlife monitoring, etc. Typically not regulated Competitive funding: –FHWA Enhancement program (Category 11) –Oregon Transportation Plan (Goal 4.1.1) –Safety Funding: SAFETEA-LU Section 148 Must take into account long-term maintenance, monitoring Partnerships very important

Next Steps

For More Information on the Oregon Wildlife Movement Strategy Audrey Hatch, 541 – 757 – 4263 x 242; Mindy Trask, (503) /... Add link to datasets

Thanks to our photographers Stephen Anderson Jason Blazar Bruce Campbell Claire Fiegener Lori Hennings Bob Hooten Brome McCreary Michael Murphy Bruce Newhouse Bruce Taylor Jennifer Thompson USFWS