As a kid, I was morbidly interested in roadkill. I felt sad about the animals' deaths, but I was also excited to see species like porcupines and beavers (even if they weren'y alive). No one treated roadkill like a serious environmental problem, like air pollution or climate change. Years later, when I commuted long distances, the sheer amount of roadkill made me question my earlier assumptions. During an hour-and-a-half drive from Concord to Ashburnham, I counted over thirty roadkill-ed animals, including two otters and a beaver - animals I've rarely seen alive. During the summer, I run a teen leadership program; every year, we volunteer to clean up trash along a mile of road on the MA-NH border. We usually notice signs of at least five dead porcupines recently cleared off the shoulder. By my own estimate, a porcupine dies about every week on just that mile-long stretch of road - which could imply 48 porcupines die every year.
Every year, new roads separate animals from nesting areas and food sources. Roads pose one of the greatest threats to wildlife in Massachusetts - and not just to rabbits and squirrels. Increased road casualties, paired with habitat loss, have driven formerly common species like the Blanding's turtle to near-extinction. As traffic increases more and more, its easy to imagine a future where most children can no longer spot turtles in local ponds or turn over logs to find salamanders. But, of course, we can't necessarily just stop road construction and leave the animals alone: Massachusetts is a densely developed state, and the population's growing. Environmentalism in Massachusetts is - and must be - about allowing animals to live and thrive amongst humans. Instead of restricting wildlife to a few conservation areas, we must rethink the way we build roads to leave space for animals in suburbs and cities. By gathering data about where animals cross dangerous roads - and building wildlife crossings and barriers at these locations - we can bring back threatened species like the Blanding's turtle and create better lives for all animals.
Unfortunately, there are few agencies actively counting data on roadkill, but surveys conducted by the Humane Society and the Animal Protection Institute estimate that one million animals per day die on the road in the United States. For context, hunters kill half as many animals - about 500,000 per day.
However, the environmental impact of roadkill isn't commensurate with the number of animals killed. Unlike hunters - who mostly shoot common, well regulated species - cars kill indiscriminately. Roads pose the biggest threats to the species with the lowest populations. In 2018, 25 Florida panthers were found dead after attempting to cross the highway. That may not seem like a large number of animals, until you consider that only about 130 survive in the wild. In one year, collisions wiped out 12% of the entire population. Roads also pose the biggest risk to ocelots in Texas. Only a few dozen ocelots live in the United States; in one year, seven were struck and killed by vehicles.
Impacts on Massachusetts Wildlife
While ocelots and panthers are not local animals, Massachusetts is home to six listed species of turtles (two endangers, two threatened, and two "of special concern"). While threats like habitat loss and hunting drove the decline of panthers and ocelots, road mortality - i.e. getting hit by cars - is the reason most turtles became threatened in the first place. In the 1940s and 50s, box turtles were a common sight in backyards. Now, the species is listed and sightings are rare. Scientists theorize that car collisions are the main reason for the decline.
Box turtles are solitary, forest-dwelling animals; individuals are spread through hundreds of acres of woods, bogs, and fields in Massachusetts. Box turtles often must travel for miles to find a mate - which means crossing roads. If the box turtle successfully mates and lays eggs, her tiny, soft-shelled hatchlings will soon wander away to establish their own territories - which also requires crossing roads. (Baby turtles are so small and helpless, they even get struck and killed by bicycles.) James Gibbs, a conservation biologist at the State University of New York, estimated that about 10% of turtle deaths are caused by cars each year - but hedged that for turtles that travel long distances, the mortality rate is likely closer to 20%. Imagine that two of every ten people will die prematurely in a car accident. Now think about how that mortality rate could affect endangered and threatened species with populations in the low thousands.
How You Can Help
Fortunately, there are a few easy ways to help animals threatened by car collisions:
1. Record any roadkill you notice.
The Linking Landscapes for Massachusetts Wildlife initiative aims to locate roadkill "hotspots" in Massachusetts - places where animals die on the road at higher rates than average - and build wildlife corridors and fences to reduce collisions. There's a quick five-question survey to fill out (your name, species of animal, location, etc) and a slightly longer survey to fill out if you notice a roadkill turtle. The initiative has already located several "roadkill hotspots" and built barriers which prevent animals from crossing busy roads. These barriers have likely prevented the deaths of hundreds of animals. Record roadkill sightings here: https://www.linkinglandscapes.info/wildlife-roadkill-database.html
2. Talk to local politicians about building wildlife barriers or crossings along busy roads
If you notice an area with a high amount of roadkill, you can contact local officials about the issue directly. After hearing from locals concerned about wildlife, many towns have constructed bridges or tunnels to allow animals to pass over or under the road. For example, the town of Concord built four wildlife underpasses beneath Route 2, and 32 species of animals have been recorded using the tunnels. The town of Amherst (in partnership with conservation groups) built special underpasses for salamanders after locals raised awareness about how many died on the roads. (Adult salamanders live on land, but lay eggs in vernal pools; many are hit by cars while travelling back to those pools.) Since the underpasses were built, the salamander population has rebounded to over 300,000 individuals.
Wildlife crossings and barriers make a huge difference. For example, a local government in Florida installed fencing after a PhD student sent photos of turtles crushed on a newly built road. Before the fence, the student counted 343 turtles crushed in ten days. The new fencing saved an estimated 5,000 turtles. When the fencing was damaged, local activists pushed for a permanent solution. The Department of Transportation agreed to construct more stable barriers which would re-direct wildlife into four culverts. The new setup reduced turtle deaths to zero.
It's especially important to contact officials about installing wildlife barriers and/or corridors along newly built roads. Most animal deaths occur on newly built roads that divid the territories of animals (like fishers, bobcats, beavers, and otters) into smaller fragments of land. These large animals must now cross roads to travel to places where they're used to finding food and shelter.
3. Support more effective public transportation in Massachusetts
One of the most effective ways to reduce roadkill is to take cars off the roads. While barriers and crossings are the most effective fast-acting solutions, expanding public transportation could significantly help animals in the long run. Several proposed public transportation expansion projects - such as linking the MBTA's Blue and Red lines - would make commutes between places like Chelsea and Somerville convenient without a car. By contacting local officials to voice your support for policies like these, you're supporting a systematic change which will benefit local wildlife.
Allowing animals to live and thrive amongst humans
I used to think of environmentalism as a movement defending untouched wildernesses in far away places, and that environmentalists concern themselves with saving endangered animals living in the rainforest, not the turtles living behind my house. More and more, I've realized that environmentalism is - and must be - about allowing animals to live alongside humans. Reducing roadkill will go along way towards making developed areas more wildlife friendly. Tools like the surveys at Linking Massachusetts Wildlie make it easy for everyone to contribute - it took me about a minute to fill out the survey after noticing a roadkill-ed fisher in Sudbury. If drivers, concerned citizens, scientists and town governments work together, I believe we can bring back a world where box turtles once again nest in suburban backyards.
Lucy Weltner is a Massachusetts Sierra Club volunteer and a student at Boston University