Safe Passage

The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project

pigeon river gorge

Safe Passage facilitator Jeff Hunter looks back on five years of progress since coalition’s beginnings

Jeff Hunter deploys a wildlife camera just outside the boundaries of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2017.

This week marks five years since the first meeting of stakeholders to discuss what has evolved into Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project. In early February 2017, more than 20 representatives from federal, state and nongovernmental organizations gathered in the Asheville office of Defenders of Wildlife to discuss elk and their habitat selection preferences. In translation: As elk expand into new territory, what types of habitat are they likely to move into?

All this was being driven by the Pisgah National Forest’s 12-Mile Project, which among other things, seeks to expand wildlife habitat in the Pigeon River Gorge. Several of us — including Hugh Irwin from The Wilderness Society and Kim DeLozier, then of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation — were concerned that elk could wind up in the highway if we didn’t consider their response to proposed logging in the area.

A rich and impassioned conversation went back and forth, with representatives from agencies like the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service (Pisgah National Forest), Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission offering their thoughts. Conversation over lunch was especially productive. As that initial meeting concluded, we agreed to explore the issue of wildlife-vehicle collisions on Interstate 40 together.

That led to a September 2017 meeting in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, where road ecologist Tony Clevenger, PhD, came to speak with the group and attend a field trip. Clevenger made it clear that we needed to conduct research to understand the extent of the problem.

Fast forward to October 2018, and we were back in Maggie Valley attending a two-day Wildlife Crossing Workshop facilitated by the Federal Highways Administration.

Just a couple months later, Wildlands Network and National Parks Conservation Association began an extensive two-year research project along a 28-mile stretch of I-40.

So, here we are in February 2022. The results of our research are in the final stages of analysis. In March 2022, stakeholders will once again gather to learn about the results and start to prioritize focal areas within our study area.

An elk is caught on camera passing through the Pigeon River Gorge. The migration of elk into new territory, including areas around Interstate 40, is what prompted the very first meeting of what would later become Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project.

“Several of us were concerned that elk could wind up in the highway if we didn’t consider their response to proposed logging in the area.”

Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge cuts through the habitat of Smokies wildlife, including elk and black bears.

Yes, it’s an exciting time for wildlife — as we’re on the cusp of addressing what seemed like an intractable issue just five years ago!

I hope you’ll consider taking the Safe Passage pledge and perhaps donate to the Safe Passage Fund. Together, we can and will make a difference.

Jeff Hunter is a Senior Program manager with National Parks Conservation Association. He serves as the facilitator of the Safe Passage: I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project.

Science Blog: Do animals behave differently around busy roadways? Yes, observation shows.

Observations in the Safe Passage study area and beyond have begun to show that wild animals are keenly aware of the threats associated with roadways.

Safe Passage researchers have observed what appears to be heightened bear vigilance near the highway (see Figures 1A-1C). Researchers in other parts of the country have shown that GPS-collared black bears approaching roads, especially high-volume highways experience increased heart rates (Ditmer et al. 2018) and higher movement speeds (Zeller et al. 2020). 

Roads sometimes serve as barriers and, other times, as mortality traps. It is an ongoing practice in risk/reward evaluation — for food needs, breeding opportunities, etc. — that bears and other wildlife must make when traversing landscapes infused with roads.

Bears observe and approach Interstate 40 with caution

Figure 1A. An adult black bear observing Interstate 40 one hundred feet away.
Figure 1A. An adult black bear observing Interstate 40, from 100 feet away.
Figure 1B. A young black bear observing Interstate 40 one hundred feet away.
Figure 1B. A young black bear observing Interstate 40, from 100 feet away.
Figure 1C. Bear approaching and returning from Interstate 40 seventy feet to the right.
Figure 1C. Bear approaching and returning from Interstate 40, from 70 feet to the right.

Though data collection is not complete, near the highway, Safe Passage has so far observed fewer sows with cubs, fewer sibling-and-adult interactions and fewer of other normal behaviors. This sharply contrasts with observations made at a distance from the highway, where less stressful and less human-disturbed environments show bears being bears — playing or showing aggression, climbing trees and marking surroundings with their scent (see Figures 2A-2C). 

Farther from the highway, bears relax and play

Figure 2A. Bears wrestling in Great Smoky Mountains National Park two miles from Interstate 40.
Figure 2A. Bears wrestling in Great Smoky Mountains National Park two miles from Interstate 40.
Figure 2B. Adult male black bear sitting just before dusk 700 feet from Interstate 40.
Figure 2B. Adult male black bear sitting just before dusk 700 feet from Interstate 40.
Figure 2C. Juvenile black bear climbing tree 1000 feet from Interstate 40.
Figure 2C. Juvenile black bear climbing tree 1000 feet from Interstate 40.