For decades, Route 93 between Missoula, Mont., and
Glacier National Park has earned a reputation as a dangerous
stretch of highway. A bumper sticker from the 1960s reads: “Pray
for me, I drive 93.” Now it seems drivers aren’t the only ones in
danger. Hundreds of western painted turtles that live in pothole
wetlands are dying on the road as well.
The
slow-moving turtles cross the highway through the Mission Valley as
they migrate from pond to pond. Many don’t make it, says Dale
Becker, who manages wildlife programs for the Confederated Salish
and Kootenai tribes. He doesn’t know exactly how many have died,
but says he’s “mucked a lot of turtles off the road.” In 1995,
researcher Suzie Fowle spent the summer studying the impact of
highway traffic on the turtle populations; she says she collected
205 flattened turtles in one 4.5-mile
stretch.
Although the turtle is not an endangered
species, says Fowle, the wetlands may contain vulnerable
subpopulations. Though research doesn’t conclude whether the
turtles are seriously threatened because of roadkill, she says, “It
is easier to knock the turtle down faster than it will be able to
recover.” Her solution: low fences to divert the turtles through
culverts under the road.
But the painted turtle
is up against a road block. The state and Confederated Salish and
Kootenai tribes disagree over the future of Route 93. The state
Department of Transportation wants to widen the road from two to
four lanes. The wider road could be safer for humans but add twice
as much pavement for turtles to cross. The tribes are resisting
widening Route 93, which bisects the Flathead Indian Reservation,
on the grounds that a four-lane highway will encourage speeding and
bring more development close to the
reservation.
For more information, contact Jim
Weaver, district administrator for the Montana Department of
Transportation, at 406/523-5800; or the Montana Cooperative
Wildlife Research Unit at 406/243-5372.
*Sara
Phillips
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Flattened fauna need help.
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