Details:

Creators:
Vaughan, Michael ; Kelly, Marcella ; Trent, J. Andrew
Vaughan, Michael ; Kelly, Marcella ; Trent, J. Andrew Less -
Corporate Creators:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Barriers (Roads) Black Bear--North Carolina Bridges And Culverts Environmental Impacts Geographic Information Systems Global Positioning System Highway Safety Roads--Environmental Aspects--North Carolina Roads--Widening--North Carolina Wildlife Crossings Wildlife Crossings--North Carolina
Publication/ Report Number:
FHWA/NC/2009-24
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
North Carolina
Edition:
Final report; March 15, 2009-March 31, 2012.
Corporate Publisher:
North Carolina. Department of Transportation. Research and Analysis Group
Abstract:
This report summarizes research conducted along US Highway 64 (US 64) and US Highway 264 (US 264) in Alligator

River National Wildlife Refuge (ARNWR), Dare County, NC regarding the proposed expansion of US 64. The study site

included the areas adjacent to US 64 from the Alligator River Bridge to the US 64/US 264 intersection and from Cub Road to

Borrow Pit Road on US 264. This report evaluates potential effects of the road improvement project on the black bear

population, delineates significant wildlife crossing areas, and provides data on movement patterns and population dynamics of

black bears on ARNWR. The primary focus of the research was to identify sites along US 64, frequently used by black bears

and white-tailed deer as potential sites for wildlife crossing structures.

It is the legal obligation of the US Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a Compatibility Determination to decide whether the

proposed project is compatible with the purpose of the refuge. Thus we evaluated the current wildlife use patterns surrounding

the highway and the potential short- and long-term effects of the expansion project on the entire suite of wildlife occupying the

areas directly adjacent to US 64. We employed a variety of research methods including; roadside barbed wire hair collection,

GPS collar deployments, remote camera trapping, road kill surveys, and driving surveys.

The road side barbed wire surveys documented 890 black bear road crossings from March 2009 – March 2011. 83

individual bears (65M:18F) were genetically identified from hair samples collected. GPS collars were deployed on 49

individual bears (26M:23F) and detailed 15 bears (11M:4F) crossing US 64, 99 times. The GPS collars also detailed intense

use of the areas directly adjacent to US 64. We photo-captured 170 white-tailed deer, > 200 bobcats and raccoons and an

additional 260 black bears at 12 guard rail openings along US 64 from June 2009 – March 2011. Driving surveys provided

additional 3 and 19 sightings of black bears and white-tailed deer respectively from March 2009 – March 2010. We identified

184 individual bears (132M:52F) within the study area.

Road kill surveys documented 8 white-tailed deer (2M:3F:3U) road mortalities from November 2008 – July 2011. Including

historical data collected by the USFWS, the cumulative total of road killed black bears on US 64 from January 1993 – July

2011 was 63 (35M:20F:8U: =3.32/year). Road kill data also included; 75 bats (7 species, 1 species a NC Threatened Species),

82 small mammals (9 species), 134 mid-sized mammals (10 species), 1,153 birds (66 species), 4,014 reptiles (44 species), and

7,498 amphibians (18 species). Four species recovered in our surveys were NC Species of Concern.

This study identified 6 high priority areas for black bear and white-tailed deer crossing and an extensive network of crossing

areas for small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:149d1916357fc227c475e7b7712c53dfa88d4e58d81a1c09a8f7cec086eb89a9
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/24193/dot_24193_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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