Roads and Ecology

in eastern ventura county a pale half moon clings to the mid day sky looking like its lower half was chewed off by la as it swung over the city seth riley with the national park service holds up an antenna business enterprises from a radio collar on a bobcat woman whose side in thousand oaks and this is if they know the thing about that one sixth a very very authoritarian thyroid specialist a decision that has preceded this surface the park service is studying how bobcats and other animals are adapting to roads and houses in the santa monica mountains that's one piece of an emerging science on the ecological impact of rome's an actual voters this innovative bands last year cars killed twenty three tai yogis along just a mile and a half of highway twenty three in the mojave desert road kill is feeding booming populations and ravens which prey on young endangered desert tortoises but despite the danger animals still need to get a cross roads if they don't they risk becoming you read or

extinct in isolated locations are actually finding evidence of waah waah and every way being an actual genetic variants we know it says an idiot there's a movement but it's not a complete barrier there are some animals give back and forth and then it looks like we have evidence that there's a scene in again tonight differences across the freeway some animals will cross under roads in colbert's or along under passes that in some cases there won't be a suitable place to ross from niles caltrans is working on ways to make it easier for wildlife to get across major roads all around is a senior biologist with the agency we will place culverts at strategic locations under coercive basically new offensive so that certain while i can't get through an area that would be very harmful to so we will make sure that there's a sufficient income what it has not wanted to go to an area less it's very much to their liking and they feel very safe roane shows off a spot where cal trans has built a new bridge for the i five as it crosses the santa clara river foot tall

young cottonwoods are sprouting nearly full size leaves on tweaking drugs well transplanted these and other native plants to replace habitat that was bulldozed and to entice animals into crossing under the bridge but if you know native mustard plants have already moved in and exotic thistles covered the adjacent roadside roads are notorious for spreading and basic lance which tried to disturb roadside soils caltrans is paul carone says it's a constant concern so what we'll do is we'll get these plants established through fascinating and watering until we believe that they can fight for themselves against invasive caltrans may be able to keep invasive set of key areas but look along california's highways and it's clear it's an uphill battle the roadsides are choked with fennel mustard castor bean and other invasive plants roads of course also bring air pollution and norway's studies have shown several birds' feces won't live or greedier busy roads one founded

endangered spotted owls that didn't live near forest roads had higher levels of the stress hormone growing awareness of these and other environmental issues means road projects now require extensive environmental studies daniel sperling director of the institute of transportation studies at uc davis says planning a new road can be a challenge because several regulatory agencies are involved and the environmental science is still evolving they drive the roads developers gravy because if they also don't understand the full impact and so if you make it very difficult for them to get on a project at low environmental impact and come up and mitigation strategy as well roads that shadow rivers make for a beautiful dr but create more problems medals from car brake pads bits of rubber or ale and other contaminants can wash into waterways and stream side roads are often prone to erosion biologist rosie daggett says the money they had

this week even more daggett says narrowing the we channel increases the force of the water sending more earth sliding into the creek that's mother's insects that fish and frog speed and covers the gravel where they lay their aides and frauds can't live on the hot borders that replaced with her inside the house and we've been counting on other species that we've found and this year there was nothing roane of caltrans says the agency has learned from past mistakes we've been understanding how to protect certain things that are science around says caltrans tries to mimic nature but there's nothing in nature that's a really successful at night