Turtle tunnels: not just for teenage mutant ninjas

[deltasigma]

Caution: Turtle Crossing

Oops, never mind. We’re going to spend $210k and built some tunnels for them.

BEDMINSTER — Township officials are looking to spend more than $210,000 on a series of tunnels that won’t be used by motorists, cyclists or pedestrians.

Instead, the tunnels will help some of the most frequent users of the township’s River Road: frogs, newts and the endangered wood turtle.
The state last week awarded the township $180,000 in a federal Transportation Enhancement grant to help pay for the project.

Federal TE grants can be used for environmental mitigation, such as reducing wildlife deaths caused by vehicles by building critter tunnels under roadways.

Personally, I think this is a great idea even if an endangered species weren’t involved. However I do have one question. Aren’t predators going to figure this out pretty quickly and just camp out by the tunnels and wait for a meal?

[purplehorseshoe]

Re: predators:

Most predators hunt by innate evolved instinct, which doesn’t account for things like man-made tunnels.

[deltasigma]

No, but I think they recognize natural choke points. For example once I was rafting on the Delaware Raritan canal which is near here and I went under a bridge. Big, big mistake. There were literally thousands of spiders and spider webs. [shiver, eww, shiver, gag, shiver] I still can’t get that image out of my mind. And I LIKE spiders too. But sweet Jesus. That many together all in one dark creepy place. ARGHHHHH!!

OK, where was I. Oh, right. I’m sure you’re right about not realizing it’s man made, but I think they’ll recognize it’s a choke point. Plus, if the amphibians passing through have a distinctive scent, that will have to accumulate near the tunnels and that alone should act as an attractant, no?

[purplehorseshoe]

Ah - you made me remember that crocodiles accumulate at river crossing points, leading to spectacular Nat Geo footage of enormous wildabeest/crocodile throwdowns. (Spoiler alert: the carnivore doesn’t always win.)

Anyway, even if predators do start hanging out (and I am unaware of any studies one way or the other, but if other Dopers want to step forward … ?) that’s still gotta be less of a pressure on their populations than cars.

[blondebear]

Davis, CA has a toad crossing that cost $14K to build. Reading the Roadside America article, it doesn’t seem to have done much good, but there’s a nice solar-powered toad village set up at one end.

[deltasigma]

@blondebear

Davis, CA has a toad crossing that cost $14K to build. Reading the Roadside America article, it doesn’t seem to have done much good, but there’s a nice solar-powered toad village set up at one end.

Now that is just sad.

Continuing development and commercial build-up in the area has probably done more to squash toads than speeding cars. And the tunnel itself may claim its share of victims. According to news accounts, the tunnels were shunned at first by the toads until the city went back and had them electrically lit. Then the accumulated heat from the lamps killed some toads. And for the survivors, toad-loving birds waited at the exit to greet them.

Hopefully the fact that there will be multiple tunnels will give them a fighting chance.

[Senegoid]

Every time I see an article about building turtle crossings, or armadillo crossings, or Alaska Pipeline crossings for the caribou, I wonder: How do you teach all the critters to use those crossings anyway?