About 4,000,000! That’s how many miles of road run back and fourth through the countryside of the United States! It’s a pretty impressive number, not to mention that with human population growth this number will only grow higher. The only other species who almost came this close were the Doozers as far as I know. 

After much research, scientists conclude that roadways and the vehicles which travel on them are ultimately a direct loss of habitat for the wildlife which live near them. They claim it to be a (in some areas ), severe degradation of habitat quality. The way roads separate plants and pretty much all naturally occurring life is called habitat fragmentation. 

In recent years, many state and government programs have funded various bridges and paths which are designed to be nature friendly. Green bridges seem to be the term most applied and they are beginning to be used more and more frequently. However, many researchers are still studying them to decide weather or not they are actually used by local wildlife. One major contributing factor to this may be the density and area of the bridge itself. Personally, if I were a rabbit, or deer, or anything without wings, I would most likely opt for the bridge… unless I just didn’t care anymore. 
…about leaving my side of the forrest.  

-LINKS-

areas
Doozers
Green bridges

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 at 9:39 pm and is filed under Conservation, Nature, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.