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| A view from the north side of the project's overland passage. |
The ceremonial flipping of the switch to turn on the electric fences and pads on the Tijeras Canyon project occurred in September 2007. In the four years since, there have been eight known wildlife fatalities within the project area.
“Since the erection of the fence, we have had two black bears hit and killed within the fenced area. One apparently climbed over a pre-existing 6-foot chainlink fence and was hit on I-40. We were not able to have the 6-foot chainlink fence replaced with taller fence, since we were only able to document one deer-vehicle collision historically where this fence occurs,” says Mark L. Watson, terrestrial habitat specialist with the N.M. Department of Game and Fish
.“Another larger male bear got through the electric fence and was hit and killed,” he adds. “We have had one mule deer hit and killed at an overland crossing across NM 333 on the west side of Deadman's Curve, and two mule deer killed just west of where the fencing ends at this location.
“Two other mule deer skeletons were found inside the fenced area within an island of habitat between I-40 and NM 333, which apparently got into the right-of-way when a gate was left open in the 8-foot chainlink fence (probably on multiple occasions).”
Watson has studied the project’s three underpasses for two years, and they are frequently used by wildlife, including mule deer and smaller animals.
Statistically, the project is an incredible success. Wildlife fatalities have been reduced from 25 a year, to less than two a year.
However, there are a few changes Watson would make if the project was re-done. He would prefer to have an eight-foot woven game fence instead of the shorter electric fence. The electric fence is difficult to maintain, he says. Over-grown vegetation creates shorts in the circuit, and no juice flows when gates are open to allow access to maintenance workers and vehicles.
Also, the animal crossing detection system was a disappointment. “The pole that the sensors were mounted on shakes in the wind,” says Watson, “So the blinking lights stay on all night. Local resident motorists habituate to the lights and do not slow down.”
A community along the route that asked that the fencing not include the frontage road as it passed through their community at first felt that animals were loitering when the interstate fence blocked the animals’ passage, causing a car accident and other wildlife issues. But those issues seem to have resolved themselves as the animals have learned where to cross the interstate.
One of the lessons here is to have a little patience as both people and animals get used to the new way of moving across the landscape.
It took some money, a lot of cooperation and buy-in, endless volunteer meetings and a little bit of luck to make the Tijeras Canyon project a success. The Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition still exists, mostly to keep an eye on things, says Kurt Menke of the Tijeras Canyon Safe Passage Coalition. The results offer a worthy blueprint for other wildlife collision mitigation efforts.
