skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Breaking Travel Barriers for Maine Predators Also Protects Humans

play audio
Play

Monday, March 18, 2013   

AUGUSTA, Maine - The same highways that keep Mainers connected can also block natural connections for wildlife, a problem local conservationists are trying to solve. According to Dan Corker, a field mapper for the Nature Conservancy, there's a project in the early stages in New England, studying animal traffic patterns for large predators like bobcats and bears to figure out where human intrusions cut off natural connections.

"We've hired a winter tracker to go out in parts of western Maine to sort of see if there are sections of roads that are being really heavily used by animals, what kind of animals are crossing, and how many, and all that," he said.

Corker said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is helping to fund research for the project, called the "Staying Connected Initiative." He said the effort, which involves two countries and more than 80 million acres, will help safeguard wildlife in the Northern Forest.

Some of the most extensive tracking is underway in the Adirondacks. According to the Nature Conservancy's Alissa Rafferty, they will use the findings to work with the State Transportation Departments to propose cost-effective changes that can be made during routine maintenance.

"How to facilitate passage for wildlife and also make it safer for people" are the objectives, she said. "So, options like increasing culvert size, creating strategic fence breaks, and putting up signs for motorists are just some examples."

Rafferty said the animal traffic is tracked using motion-detecting cameras and a very old-fashioned and economical method: paw prints in the snow.

"It's amazing how snow cover can really act as a blank canvas, and potentially anything that moves across it, is recorded for us to see," she remarked.

Rafferty said the species they are studying move over great distances for at least part of the year for a variety of reasons, following food sources, finding mates, and, potentially, in response to the environmental effect of climate change.

More information is at tiny.cc/l2d3tw.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021