The 2011 International Conference on Ecology & Transportation

Session CNT-1: Strategic Approaches to Mitigation
Moderator: Leonard Sielecki, British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Canada

• Elkhorn Slough Early Mitigation Partnership: Watershed / Conservation Approach to Mitigation for Transportation Projects
  
  Nancy Siepel, Caltrans, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
• Successfully Using Alternative Forms of Mitigation
  
  Sandra Manning, US Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle, WA, and Dan Corlett, Washington State Department of Transportation, Vancouver, WA, USA
• A Statewide Caltrans Mitigation Needs Assessment in Support of the Statewide Advance Mitigation Initiative (SAMI)
  
  Patrick Huber, Information Center for the Environment, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
• Development and Implementation of a Programmatic Agreement for Endangered Species Act Consultation in Nebraska
  
  Eric Zach and Jason Jurgens, Nebraska Department of Roads, Lincoln, NE; Melissa Maiefski,USDOT Federal Highway Administration-Nebraska, Lincoln, NE; and Brooke Stansberry, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Grand Island, NE, USA

Session COM-1: Safety First – Reducing Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions
Moderator: Michelle Meade, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Using Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Data to Plan and Implement Transportation Mitigation: Case Studies from Utah
  
  Ashley Green, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
• Identification and Evaluation of Sites for Low-Cost Wildlife Mitigation
  
  Frank Craighead, Craighead Institute, Bozeman, MT, USA
• Reducing Mule Deer-Vehicle Collisions with Underpasses:  A Case Study from Nugget Canyon, Wyoming
  
  Thomas Hart, Wyoming Department of Transportation, Cheyenne, WY, USA
• The Reliability of Two New Animal Detection Systems and Recommended Requirements for System Reliability
  
  Marcel Huijser, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

Session CRB-1: Long-Term Perspectives on Ecology and Sustainable Transportation
Moderator: Marion Carey, Washington State Department of Transportation

• 15 Years of Banff Research: What We've Learned and Why It's Important to Transportation Managers Beyond the Park Boundary
  
  Anthony Clevenger, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Harvie Heights, Alberta, Canada
• Maintaining Wildlife Connectivity across Roads through Tested Wildlife Crossing Designs
  
  Patricia Cramer, Utah Transportation Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA
• High, Wide and Handsome: A Review of Wildlife and Aquatic Crossing Technology Over the Last Decade (2001-2011)  
  
  William Ruediger, Wildlife Consulting Resources, Missoula, MT, USA
• Environmental Performance Standards (EPS): Cost and Time Savings by Teaming with Regulatory Agencies and Utilization of EPS after the OTIA III Program
  
  Shelley Richards, HDR, and Geoff Crook, Oregon Department of Transportation, Salem, OR, USA

Session SUS-1:  Greening the Gray
Moderator: Martin Palmer, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Assessing the Ecological Footprint of Surface Transportation in the Fifty States
  
  Chris McCahill, University Of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
• Examination and Consideration of Non-Evident Ecological History and Opportunities in a Heavily Urbanized Transportation Corridor:   I-75 Reconstruction and Expansion in the Mill Creek Valley of Cincinnati, Ohio
  
  Richard Record, RL Record LLC, Cincinnati, OH, USA
• Ecological and Social Challenges Associated with Constructing an Arterial Roadway in an Environmentally Complex Landscape: A Case Study from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada
  
  Lynn Maslen, Spencer Environmental Management Services Ltd., and Steve Melton, ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• New Growth in Older Communities: A Case Study of Sustainable Development in Chicago's South Suburbs
  
  David Chandler, Center For Neighborhood Technology, Chicago, IL, USA

CNT-2: Facilitated Session on Integrating Resilient Transportation Systems with Ecological Restoration
Moderator: Ann Costanza, Anchor QEA, LLC, Seattle, WA, USA

This session highlights new ways that transportation agencies in Washington are partnering with natural resource agencies on ecological restoration efforts in their communities. As the Puget Sound area is recognized for its abundance of natural features, as well as its chronic traffic congestion, the emerging programs and efforts from the region are worthy of further evaluation.

• Peter Hummel, ASLA, Anchor QEA, LLC, Seattle, WA, USA
• Margaret Clancy, ESA Adolfson, Seattle, WA, USA
• Theresa Mitchell, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia. WA, USA
• Allison Hanson, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA, USA
• John Small, ASLA, Anchor QEA, LLC, Seattle, WA, USA

Session COM-2: Ecological Enhancement and Compliance in Construction, Operations and Maintenance
Moderator: Cindy Callahan, USDOT Federal Highway Administration

• Intercounty Connector (ICC) Contract A: Environmental Compliance Management using Geofusion Center
  
  Holly Shipley, KCI Technologies, Inc., Sparks, MD, USA
• Monitoring Environmental Compliance in the Construction of the Cuyutlan Lagoon Railroad in Manzanillo, Mexico
  
  Norma Fernández Buces, Grupo Selome SA De CV, Mexico City, Mexico
• Establishing Native Plants on Roadsides: An Integrated Approach
  
  David Steinfeld, USDA Forest Service, Ashland, OR, and George Fekaris, Western Federal Lands Highway Division, Vancouver, WA, USA
• Culturally-Sensitive Dogbane Transplanting, Collaboration and Public Outreach
  
  Kurt Roedel, Oregon Department of Transportation, Salem, OR, USA

Session CRB-2: Understanding Barrier Effects and Crossing Design
Moderator: Christine Maguire, Oregon Department of Transportation

• Buckshot Versus the Silver Bullet, A Regulatory Perspective: Utilizing Low Cost Wildlife Friendly Designs Everywhere vs. Constructing a Few Expensive Crossings
  
  Peter Leete, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, St. Paul, MN, USA
• Landscape Features Associated to Roadkill of Three Mammal Species in the Brazilian Cerrado
  
  Simone Freitas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Use of Underpasses by Moose in 2009 and 2010 along Highway 175 in Quebec, Canada: Box Culverts with Natural Floor Can Be a Cost-Effective Passageway
  
  Yves Leblanc, AECOM Consultants Inc., Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
• Wildlife Fencing Research for I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East: Not Just an Animal Commitment
  
  Randy Giles, Washington State Department of Transportation, Union Gap, WA, USA

Session SUS-2: Partnerships for Linkages
Moderator: Jen Watkins, Conservation Northwest

• Where Jaguar and Black Bear Meet: Tracking the Pathway of Temperate and Tropical Species in an International Sky Island Corridor
  
  Jessica Lamberton, Sky Island Alliance, Tucson, AZ, USA
• California Central Coast Wildlife Connectivity Project: Identifying and Implementing Connectivity for Wildlife Movement throughout the Central Coast of California
  
  Tanya Diamond, Connectivity for Wildlife, Los Gatos, CA, USA
• Biotope Networks: A 20,000 Km Forest Corridor System in Germany
  
  Mark Hörstermann, BUND Friends Of The Earth Germany, Berlin, Germany
• Developing and Implementing a Comprehensive Wildlife Monitoring Program for the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project
  
  Craig Broadhead, Washington State Department of Transportation, Union Gap, WA, USA

Session CNT-3: Habitat Connectivity – Measuring and Planning the Critical Links
Moderator: Barb Aberle, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Measuring Ecological Change from Transportation Projects
  
  Kevin Halsey, Parametrix, Portland, OR, USA
• Maintaining Maya Forest Connectivity in a Changing Landscape: Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Mexico's Highway 186
  
  Gerardo Garcia-Contreras and Efraim Acosta-Lugo, Pronatura Peninsula De Yucatan, AC, Yucatan, Mexico
• Bay Area Critical Linkages: Habitat Connectivity Planning for the San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond
  
  Kristeen Penrod, Science & Collaboration for Connected Wildlands, Fair Oaks, CA, USA
• Integrating Habitat Connectivity in WSDOT Practices
  
  Kelly McAllister, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA, USA

Session COM-3: Improving Stormwater Management through Better Analysis and Design
Moderator: Carl Ward, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Analyzing Stormwater Impacts Created by Indirect Effects of Transportation Projects
  
  Marion Carey, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA and Angie Haffie, Washington State Department of Transportation, Vancouver, WA, USA
• Key Design Issues for Managing Infiltration of Storm Water
  
  Jim Bailey, Shannon & Wilson, Inc., Seattle, WA, USA
• Jamaica Bay Watershed, Queens, New York Infrastructure Improvement Project
  
  Brian Sayre, Dewberry, Parsippany, NJ, and Dana Gumb, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Flushing, NY, USA
• Establishing and Maintaining Environmental Compliance in a Sensitive Context
  
  Chuck Howe, Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Session CRB-3: Planning and Design Considerations for Small Animals and Herptefauna
Moderator: Mark Bakeman, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Road Planning and Mitigation Design for Small Animals: Concepts and Applications
  
  Kimberly Andrews, UGA Savannah River Ecology Lab, Aiken, SC, USA, and Kari Gunson, Eco-Kare International, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
• Performance of  Wildlife Crossing Enhancements to Existing Roadway Culverts and Bridges in Central Florida
  
  Stephen Tonjes, Florida Department of Transportation, Deland, FL, and Daniel Smith, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
• Design Considerations and Effectiveness of Fencing for Turtles: Three Case Studies along Northeastern New York State Highways
  
  Tom Langen, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, USA
• Standards for Fauna Friendly Culverts
  
  Marguerite Trocmé, Federal Road Office, Bern, Switzerland

Session SUS-3: Using Context Sensitive Solutions to Deliver Sustainable Projects
Moderator: Christina Martinez, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Measuring Context Sensitive Solutions Benefits
  
  Nikiforos Stamatiadis, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
• Wildlife Crossings Within the Cultural Landscape of the Flathead Indian Reservation: US 93 from Evaro to Polson, Montana
  
  Dale Becker, Confederated Salish And Kootenai Tribes, Pablo, MO, USA
• Sustainability and the Columbia River Crossing Project
  
  Heather Wills, Oregon Department of Transportation Columbia River Crossing, Vancouver, WA, and Scott Richman, David Evans and Associates, Portland, OR, USA
• Sustainability In Bridges: The Art and Community of Celebrating our Landscape
  
  Linda Figg, FIGG, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Session CNT-4: Breaking Down Barriers – Project Level to International Scale
Moderator: Rhonda Brooks, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Wildlife Crossings Along the Ring Changbai Mountain Scenic Highway, China
  
  Yun Wang, China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Beijing, China
• Providing Connectivity Across Roads for Tree-Dwelling Mammals
  
  Miriam Goosem, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
• Targeting Ecological Investigations to Help Select Effective Mitigation Options for Vehicle-Caused Mortality of a Threatened Butterfly
  
  Catherine de Rivera, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
• Infrastructure Obstruction Profiling: A Method to Analyse Ecological Barriers Formed by Transport Infrastructure
  
  Bernardino Romano, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila, Italy

Session COM-4: Vegetation Management for Road and Rail Corridors
Moderator: Larry Mattson, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Railway Environments Produce Ecosystem Services if Managed Properly
  
  Magnus Stenmark, Faunistica, Jonkoping, Sweden
• Vegetation Management of the Adirondack Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Railroad Corridor
  
  Ed Frantz, New York State Department of Transportation, Utica, NY, USA
• Assemblage Structure of Plant Communities Along the Road Corridor: Rock and Scree Slopes – Planting versus Natural Recolonization?
  
  Rosalyn Thompson, University College Cork, Co. Cork, Ireland
• Ecological Restoration of Transportation Projects as a Successful Mitigation Measure
  
  Sergio Lopez, Grupo Selome SA De CV, Mexico City, Mexico

Session CRB-4: Planning and Designing Effective Crossings
Moderator: Kelly McAllister, Washington State Department of Transportation

• A Regional Ecosystem Framework for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Along the I-70 Mountain Corridor, Colorado: An Eco-Logical Field Test
  
  Paige Singer, Rocky Mountain Wild, and Julia Kintsch, ECO-resolutions, LLC, Denver, CO, USA
• Monitoring Fish and Low-Mobility Vertebrates Along a Major Mountain Highway:  A Snapshot Before Construction of I-90 Wildlife Crossing Structures
  
  Paul James, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA
• Elk Movements Associated with Interstate 17 In Northern Arizona
  
  Jeff Gagnon, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ, USA
• Planning a Wildlife Crossing at the Urban/Rural Interface: Challenges and Opportunities
  
  Todd Martin, King County Department of Transportation, Seattle, WA, USA

Session SUS-4: Show Me the Money – Effective Mitigation and Costs of Impacts
Moderator: Megan White, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Ecosystem-Based Protocols for Systematic and Sustainable Roadside Development
  
  John Walewski, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
• Moving Forward, a Review of California's Approaches to the Challenges and Solutions for Successful Regional Advance Mitigation Planning
  
  James Thorne, University of California, Davis, CA, and Elizabeth O'Donoghue, The Nature Conservancy, San Francisco, CA, USA
• Does Wildlife Transportation Mitigation Make Cents: A Case Study of Highway 3 in the Crowsnest Pass in the Southern Canadian Rockies
  
  Tracy Lee and Danah Duke, Miistakis Institute, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Rob Ament, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
• Comparing the Ecological and Economic Outcomes of Traditional vs. Programmatic, Multi-Resource Based Mitigation Approaches
  
  James Kagan, Institute For Natural Resources, Portland, OR, USA

Session CNT-5: New Considerations for Habitat Connectivity
Moderator: Alison Berry, University of California, Davis

• Evolving Towards Sustaining Ecosystem Processes Across Highways: Beyond Deer Fences and Fish Ladders
  
  Sandra Jacobson, USDA Forest Service, Bend, OR, USA
• The Balanced Growth Program as a Tool for Implementing Eco-Logical
  
  Tracy Engle, URS Corporation, Cleveland, OH, USA
• Should We Worry About Predator-Prey Interactions at Wildlife Crossing Structures?
  
  Cristina Mata, Universidad Autonoma De Madrid, Madrid, Spain
• Multiuse Overpasses: Does Human Use Impact the Use by Wildlife?
  
  Edgar Van Der Grift, Alterra WUR, Wageningen, Gelderland, The Netherlands

Session COM-5: Turn It Down! Noise Impacts
Moderator: Emily Teachout, US Fish and Wildlife Service

• Influence of Bridge Structural Arrangement on the Noise Induced by Traffic and its Effect on the Use of the Migration Route by Wildlife
  
  Marek Foglar, Czech Technical University, Prague, Czech Republic
• Traffic Noise Disturbance in Important Bird Areas in Sweden
  
  Jan Olof Helldin, Swedish Biodiversity Centre, Uppsala, Sweden
• Minimizing Impact Pile Driving Hydroacoustic Effects on 14 Species of Endangered Species Act Listed Fish: Tales from a Mega-Project
  
  Sharon Rainsberry, Columbia River Crossing Project, Vancouver, WA, USA
• Puget Sounds: A Summary of Recent Underwater and Airborne Noise Measurements from Marine Waters of Washington State
  
  Jim Laughlin, Washington State Department of Transportation, Shoreline, WA, USA

Facilitated Session CRB-5: New Methods, New Materials, New Thinking – Innovations of the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition
Moderator: Anthony Clevenger, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

Some of the world’s top engineers, ecologists, and design professionals participated in the ARC competition. Their innovations may transform how we as a society approach the next generation of wildlife crossing infrastructure. This session offers the exciting opportunity to interact directly with members of the ARC finalist teams and see their models which will be on display.

• Angela Kociolek, Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
• Rob Torsing, Zwarts & Jansma Architects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Tiffany Beamer, OLIN, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Janet Rosenberg, Janet Rosenberg + Associates, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Valerie Yaw, Bluegreen (Balmori Associates team), Aspen, CO, USA
• Rachel Gleeson, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Brooklyn, NY, USA

Session SUS-5: Delivering Sustainable Infrastructure: Programs and Tools
Moderator: Carol Lee Roalkvam, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Federal Highway Administration Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool (INVEST)
  
  Heather Holsinger, USDOT Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC and Lisa Reid, CH2M HILL, Bellevue, WA, USA
• Sustainability in Project Delivery
  
  Margi Bradway and Liz Hormann, Oregon Department of Transportation, Salem, OR, USA
• Incorporating Sustainability into New York State DOT's Decisions
  
  Debra Nelson, New York State Department of Transportation, Albany, NY, USA
• MOSAIC: A Comprehensive Tool for Sustainable Highway Corridor Planning in Maryland
  
  Lei Zhang, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Session CNT-6: Sustaining Hydrologic Connections
Moderator: Bill Ruediger, Wildlife Consulting Resources

• WSDOT Fish Passage Program
  
  Jon Peterson, Washington State Department of Transportation, and Susan Cierbiej, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, WA, USA
• Critical Linkages: Assessing Connectivity Restoration Potential for Culvert Replacement, Dam Removal and Construction of Wildlife Passage Structures in Massachusetts
  
  Scott Jackson, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA
• Maintaining Hydrologic Connectivity Across I-90 East of Snoqualmie Pass
  
  Rob Schanz, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, WA, USA
• Real-Time Data Acquisition for the Monitoring of River Water Quality During Motorway Construction in Ireland
  
  Letizia Cocchiglia, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Session COM-6: Unwelcome Guests: Invasives and Pests
Moderator: Joseph Burns, USDA Forest Service

• Invasive Alien Species Introductions with International Trade and Domestic Transportation: Identifying Primary Vectors and Cross-border Pathways in North America
  
  Denys Yemshanov, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada
• Managing Invasive Species Risks for Bridge Pontoons Stored in Estuaries
  
  Philip Bloch, Washington State Department of Transportation, Seattle, WA, USA
• Evaluating the Forest Pest Invasion Potential of Trade-Related and Recreational Transportation Pathways
  
  Frank Koch, USDA Forest Service, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA and Denys Yemshanov, Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada
• USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services Bridging the Migratory Bird Gap for Oregon Department of Transportation
  
  Diane Winterboer, USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services, Portland, OR, USA

Session CRB-6: Road Effects on Biodiversity and Species
Moderator: Joanne Schuett-Hames, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

• Population and Evolutionary Consequences of Roads on Two Amphibians
  
  Steven Brady, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
• Genetic Differentiation of Selected Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) Populations in Fragmented Habitats, and a Comparison of Road-based Mortality Rates to Population Size
  
  Susan Hagood, The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, DC, USA
• The Influence of Roadkill on Protected Species and Other Wildlife in Lithuania
  
  Linas Balciauskas, Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
• How Important is Infrastructure for the Conservation of Threatened Biodiversity? A Case Study of Red-Listed Species in Sweden
  
  Jörgen Wissman, Swedish Biodiversity Centre, Uppsala, Sweden

Session SUS-6: Landscape Scale Planning for Transportation and Conservation
Moderator: Jason Smith, Washington State Department of Transportation

• Integrating Transportation Planning, Conservation, and Regulatory Actions
  
  Roberta Gerson, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento, CA, USA
• Road Ecology Status in China: The Effect of Roads on Wildlife and Corresponding Solutions
  
  Qi-Lin Li, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• Large Scale Infrastructure and Spatial Planning - A Landscape Approach: The Götaland Line Example
  
  Henrik Wahlman, Swedish Transportation Administration, Jonkoping, Sweden
• California High Speed Rail: Early Agency Coordination for Enhanced Environmental Benefit
  
  Clifton Meek and Sarvy Mahdavi, US EPA Region 9, San Francisco, CA, USA