I wonder how many Utards will be staking out underpasses in western Wyoming this shed season.
Webcams capture success of deer underpasses
A buck deer looks at a newly installed webcam as a herd passes through an underpass on
U.S. Highway 30 in Nugget Canyon on Dec. 18. (WYDOT photo)
By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau
GREEN RIVER -- A picture is worth a thousand words -- or in this case, about 800 deer, a few antelope and a lone bull elk.
That was the approximate number of big game animals photographed by newly installed deer underpass webcams during their first week of operation along U.S. Highway 30 in Nugget Canyon.
The state installed six deer underpasses this summer in its latest and largest effort to assist migrating mule deer cross the busy highway and protect motorists from collisions with big game animals.
The new webcam data is showing the animals are already taking to the tunnels, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials said this week.
The busy highway lies smack in the middle of one of the state's largest big game winter ranges used by the 30,000-animal Wyoming Range mule deer herd.
The recently captured images of big game animals using the underpasses seem to confirm the success of the project, WYDOT spokeswoman Theresa Herbin said in a release and phone interview. Officials had already observed a big drop in vehicle-animal collisions, but the webcams have now documented that deer are traveling through the tunnels.
Herbin said during a seven-day period beginning Dec. 16, the new webcams documented almost 800 animals using the six underpasses.
"The images clearly show that they are using them," Herbin said. "Based on the counts from each underpass and how many were passing through it ... it's showing they are using it and using it heavily."
WYDOT, in collaboration with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, finished the $3.8 million project in October. It included the construction of 12 miles of fence and the six underpasses.
The wildlife-proof fences line the 15-mile stretch of the highway and funnel the deer into the 12-foot-high underpasses. The six underpasses augment another underpass already in use by big game animals in Nugget Canyon.
Deer mortality in the canyon has been a significant concern over the years, and particularly in recent years as the Wyoming Range mule deer herd has declined in number. The risks to motorists is also a huge concern.
About 14,000 mule deer cross the highway at least twice a year during spring and fall migration as they move to and from their winter range.
Game and Fish and WYDOT data from wildlife/highway studies show, on average, about 130 mule deer have been killed each year in vehicle collisions since 1990.
Herbin said the majority of deer killed in Nugget Canyon are adult and yearling females. Agency officials worry the mortality rate could have an impact on the Game and Fish's population herd objective of 50,000 animals.
Not afraid
Herbin said the key to the project's success was the placement and design of the underpasses themselves.
"You've got to place them where the animals actually do cross so they don't have to learn a new migration route, but you also have to design them in such a way that they're not afraid of them," Herbin said.
Data from the first underpass installed in 2001 showed that the tunnel cut the number of deer killed at milepost 30 by more than half during its first year of operation.
"They did a lot of experimenting with the first underpass moving partitions around to get the proper size, height and width," Herbin said.
"And one thing they figured out was that if the deer cannot see open space on the other end, they're not going to use the underpass," she said.
The webcams showed deer crossing traffic that week in December was heaviest at mileposts 35 and 36 at the east end of the underpass fence, the same area with the largest peaks in deer mortality.
The video showed in addition to mule deer, the underpass was used by antelope, elk and other species.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at [email protected].
