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POLK COUNTY, Fla. — On I-4, between Tampa and Orlando, building is nearly full on one in every of Florida’s latest wildlife crossings.
The venture will connect the northern and southern components of the Osprey Unit of the Hilochee Wildlife Management Area for the primary time in half a century.
“We don’t know exactly what the animals are doing here now and how their population sizes are, but we know they’re here,” Brent Setchell, the District 1 Drainage Design Engineer with FDOT, stated. “And, being able to, you know, cross, you know, those populations is going to be awesome for genetic diversity, you know, and enable that wildlife to open up new habitats and new corridors home.”
Setchell gave ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska a tour of the brand new crossing. The design will enable animals, each on land and within the water, to securely cross I-4 by strolling safely beneath the greater than 106,000 automobiles that move by means of this part day by day.
“The number one killer of Florida panthers are vehicles, and I’m looking at I-4, and there’s no way you can cross unless you’re a super lucky panther or bear,” Paluska stated.
“You’d have to be very lucky; you’d have to maybe 2 a.m., and there’s maybe the traffic dies down, and you might get lucky, but it’s certainly not worth the risk,” Setchell stated.
To shield the implausible creatures that decision Florida house, FDOT officers stated they’re constructing wildlife life crossings with every new highway venture or retrofit. This map exhibits the placement of crossings throughout the state, with extra deliberate sooner or later.
“How many more wildlife crossings do you think we could build to protect all of our species?” Paluska requested.
“Probably hundreds; with each new road project, we look at opportunities for wildlife crossings. It’s now in the guide books that we need to look for those opportunities,” Setchell stated. “Certainly, there’s plenty of existing roads where you know, we didn’t have the information that we have now, and so some of them there’s plenty of opportunities for us to make improvements on those existing structures kind of like we’re doing here with I-4.”
Wildlife cameras are actually a necessary instrument utilized by FDOT, nonprofits and wildlife advocates to doc the key lives of animals we drive previous daily however could by no means discover.
“This a testament for you that photos are making an impact when they see these animals in the wild and say I can’t believe they are all here,” William Freund, President, fStop Foundation, stated.
Freund based the nonprofit in 2015 to make use of video and photos to make an influence on conservation efforts in Florida.
“The saying is a picture is worth 1,000 words. I like to add something to it, and I say ‘a video will leave you breathless,’ and the power of the videos of showing not only that the animal is actually there and using a specific crossing or an area, but a lot of times taking a peek into this life that they have, and in the fact that they have emotions,” Freund stated. “The power that has in places like Tallahassee or, you know, any spot where you can really touch people’s hearts, and they can see the importance of this.”
A current video by the fStop Foundation of a dancing skunk went viral. They’ve additionally captured a mama panther, her kittens, a mama bear together with her cubs, and the same old suspects, like alligators, deer, and raccoons.
The crew’s produced a number of award-winning documentaries.
The Need for Connectivity is a 26-minute movie on PBS that options panther “FP224” and her superb life. Wildlife in Our Backyard is a six-minute movie concerning the basis’s Share the Landscape venture.
There is nothing random about the place the crossings are put in. A tagged bear impressed the brand new location for this new crossing.
“The ‘M-34’ bear wandered, you know, right down the power lines, where there couldn’t find a way to get across I-4. And so this new passage will make that possible,” Setchell stated. “We’ve got plenty of documentation that how successful these wildlife crossings are. They’re 80 to 90% effective. Especially when you have the wildlife fencing like we do on this project. Effectively moving wildlife from one side of the road to the other.”
So far, no panthers have been captured on a digicam put in close to the brand new crossing. But, Setchell is hopeful that will change.
“The whole goal for the Florida panthers is to create three separate populations of more than 250 Panthers,” Setchell stated. “And, right now, we have one population that’s less than that. And so, our goal is to try and promote that growth. And the only way we’ll get that is to allow them to migrate northward. And so this crossing will help achieve that.”
The crossing must be full by the top of the yr.
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