Running The Roads by Josh Palumbo, Forest Management Coordinator. My path to work recently has brought me past dozens of squirrels each day with their mouth on the asphalt. While squirrels in the road is a constant in the eastern United States, these squirrels seem to have an agenda in the roadway. While squirrel/vehicle interactions are very problematic to squirrels throughout the year, the interactions between deer and cars are about to increase dynamically. This Nine Minute Naturalist will attempt to find reasons animals would risk life and limb to venture in the path of oncoming traffic.
Roads have long been a constant source of human and wildlife conflict. The primary reason is roads dissect animal habitat. On one side animals live seeking the daily requirements. The time will arise when what they need is on the other side of a roadway. Food, water, mates, etc. are all simple reasons for animals to risk their lives to cross a road. Somehow, I have managed to drive for 30 years on deer laden roads and never have a collision. Yet the list is long of the animals I have accidently struck while traveling to and from. Squirrels, chipmunks, turkey, skunk, snakes, and a hawk are just a portion of the list. The list luckily does not include the black bear I missed by a foot going 75mph on I64. These animals were being tempted across the roadway by something on the other side. By merely existing, roads are causing animals to actively spend time risking their lives.
The beautiful state of Virginia rates in the top ten every year for likelihood of striking an animal with your vehicle. Drivers in Virginia have a 1 in 78 chance while the most likely state to collide with an animal on the roads is wild West Virginia with a 1 in 38 chance. An estimate of 15% of all crashes in Virginia involves deer. The leading counties for collisions tend to be in northern Virginia due to high deer and high population but local counties Augusta and Rockingham do make the top ten in animal/vehicle interactions. We are approaching the rut period where male deer begin covering more ground as the breeding season nears. October and November account for more deer/vehicle collisions than the all the other months combined.
While the search for love propels deer into traffic, the shear volume of a black bears range is the primary reason bears enter roadways. Female black bears have a range of 1 to 50 square miles while adult male bears have a range of 10 to 290 square miles. Reasons ranging from food, mating, and territory disputes demand bears interact with the road. This highly intelligent creature has good success crossing lesser roadways such as Wintergreen Drive or Rt. 151 but the odds of vehicle collisions skyrocket when having to cross interstates breaking up their territory such as I64 or I81.
