to reduce grizzly bear mortalities along the railroad tracks. They helped fund a
transition from open garbage containers to bear-resistant models at county refuse
sites; worked to establish guidelines for the safe transportation of hazardous
materials through the corridor; and facilitated interagency cooperation in planning
for responses to accidents involving hazardous materials, including resolution of
emergency communications issues.
GNESA has also supported wildlife research in the corridor, including studies of
habitat connectivity across the corridor. They worked to preserve local knowledge
of wildlife connectivity by hosting workshops that involved citizens who work and
live in the corridor, including train engineers, school bus drivers, local law
enforcement officials, biologists, and rangers. They helped fund a study of game
trail use in the corridor that identified where animals were crossing the highway and
railroad (Roesch 2010). This information will be vital, as crossing structures may
eventually be required.
BNSF and the U. S. Department of Transportation also supported in-depth
research into grizzly bear movement patterns across the corridor. Obtaining
fine-scale movement data from grizzly bears was nearly impossible before the
advent of satellite global positioning system (GPS) tracking collars in the late
1990s. One of the first studies in the continental U. S. to utilize this technology on
brown bears was that of Waller and Servheen (2005), which used a relatively large
sample of GPS-collared grizzly bears (n = 42), paired with detailed road and traffic
counts, to assess the response of grizzly bears to various traffic types and volumes.
These researchers found that although the highway and railroad did have measureable effects on the trans-corridor movements of grizzly bears, they still crossed
frequently and successfully. Grizzly bears crossing the transportation corridor were
faced with traversing both the railroad line and the highway, which closely parallel
one another through the GNESA area. The monitored grizzly bears appeared to
make behavioral adjustments to daily fluctuations in highway traffic but not for rail
traffic. Grizzly bears chose to cross the corridor when highway traffic volumes
were lowest, but when rail traffic was the highest. Rail traffic was higher at night
because most rail maintenance work is done during daylight hours, thus curtailing
daytime freight traffic. Furthermore, freight trains loaded on the coast during the
day leave in the evening and arrive in the GNESA area at night, 24–36 h later. It
may be that grizzly bears are more easily habituated to rail traffic because it tends
to be highly predictable. The consequence, however, is that grizzly bear mortality
was much higher on the tracks than on the highway. Between 1980 and 2002, 23
grizzly bears were killed on the tracks in the GNESA corridor, but only two on the
highway. The fine-scale movement data did not show that grizzly bears were still
feeding on grain accumulations along the railroad tracks, suggesting that
grain-control actions were working as intended. Therefore, the authors concluded
that the high observed post-grain spill mortality rates were the consequence of
high rail traffic volume, low highway traffic volume, and natural grizzly bear
movement patterns.
The collaborative environment that fostered the birth of GNESA and innovative
problem-solving approaches to environmental issues was recognized as a model for
18 Commerce and Conservation in the Crown of the Continent
301
transition from open garbage containers to bear-resistant models at county refuse
sites; worked to establish guidelines for the safe transportation of hazardous
materials through the corridor; and facilitated interagency cooperation in planning
for responses to accidents involving hazardous materials, including resolution of
emergency communications issues.
GNESA has also supported wildlife research in the corridor, including studies of
habitat connectivity across the corridor. They worked to preserve local knowledge
of wildlife connectivity by hosting workshops that involved citizens who work and
live in the corridor, including train engineers, school bus drivers, local law
enforcement officials, biologists, and rangers. They helped fund a study of game
trail use in the corridor that identified where animals were crossing the highway and
railroad (Roesch 2010). This information will be vital, as crossing structures may
eventually be required.
BNSF and the U. S. Department of Transportation also supported in-depth
research into grizzly bear movement patterns across the corridor. Obtaining
fine-scale movement data from grizzly bears was nearly impossible before the
advent of satellite global positioning system (GPS) tracking collars in the late
1990s. One of the first studies in the continental U. S. to utilize this technology on
brown bears was that of Waller and Servheen (2005), which used a relatively large
sample of GPS-collared grizzly bears (n = 42), paired with detailed road and traffic
counts, to assess the response of grizzly bears to various traffic types and volumes.
These researchers found that although the highway and railroad did have measureable effects on the trans-corridor movements of grizzly bears, they still crossed
frequently and successfully. Grizzly bears crossing the transportation corridor were
faced with traversing both the railroad line and the highway, which closely parallel
one another through the GNESA area. The monitored grizzly bears appeared to
make behavioral adjustments to daily fluctuations in highway traffic but not for rail
traffic. Grizzly bears chose to cross the corridor when highway traffic volumes
were lowest, but when rail traffic was the highest. Rail traffic was higher at night
because most rail maintenance work is done during daylight hours, thus curtailing
daytime freight traffic. Furthermore, freight trains loaded on the coast during the
day leave in the evening and arrive in the GNESA area at night, 24–36 h later. It
may be that grizzly bears are more easily habituated to rail traffic because it tends
to be highly predictable. The consequence, however, is that grizzly bear mortality
was much higher on the tracks than on the highway. Between 1980 and 2002, 23
grizzly bears were killed on the tracks in the GNESA corridor, but only two on the
highway. The fine-scale movement data did not show that grizzly bears were still
feeding on grain accumulations along the railroad tracks, suggesting that
grain-control actions were working as intended. Therefore, the authors concluded
that the high observed post-grain spill mortality rates were the consequence of
high rail traffic volume, low highway traffic volume, and natural grizzly bear
movement patterns.
The collaborative environment that fostered the birth of GNESA and innovative
problem-solving approaches to environmental issues was recognized as a model for
18 Commerce and Conservation in the Crown of the Continent
301