The Road Beyond: Highway Mitigation and Landscape Connectivity Planning in Two Colorado Counties Julia Kintsch, ECO-resolutions Paige Singer, Rocky Mountain Wild Bill Ruediger, Wildlife Consulting Resources Ashley Nettles, White River National Forest Adam Palmer, Eagle County © Colorado Department of Transportation, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, & ECO-resolutions

Landscape Perspective Integrating wildlife considerations with human land use Highway mitigation Habitat conservation & management across jurisdictional boundaries Mine & Tailings Backcountry Recreation Town of Breckenridge Breckenridge Resort SH 91 SH 9 Copper Mountain Ski Area Backcountry Recreation I-70 Backcountry Recreation Motorized Recreation

Background Independently, a need for a landscape connectivity vision was identified in both Eagle and Summit Counties. Eagle: Connectivity highlighted as a value in Comprehensive Master Plan. What does this mean? Summit: DOT provided funds for multiple wildlife projects as compensation for impacts for a highway realignment in the county. Colorado

Desired Outcomes Create a common vision of landscape connectivity across jurisdictional boundaries Leverage partnerships to protect connectivity and spur funding for wildlife mitigation projects Produce tangible, implementable plan to inform decision-making across multiple stakeholders Integrate into land use planning, permitting and management

Project Timelines Eagle County Summit County Phase I report – Preliminary linkages & opportunities Stakeholder workshops & review Stakeholder & engineering site visits Expert highway linkages workshop Stakeholder review & prioritization Data compilation & spatial analysis Phase II Kickoff Field assessment Phase I Kickoff Recommendations& opportunities report 2016 2017 2018 Kickoff Expert highway linkages workshop Data compilation & spatial analysis Field assessment Recommendations & opportunities Recommendations& opportunities report Stakeholder review & prioritization Stakeholder & engineering site visits Summit County

Combined Approach Map connectivity across the landscape Use Corridor Designer tool to map landscape connectivity for target species based on species Habitat Suitability Models Model parameters previously vetted by wildlife experts statewide. Define highway crossing zones Stakeholder/expert workshops to identify and describe highway crossing zones Series of workshops over multiple months to identify, refine and prioritize Review linkage models, WVC data, species habitat layers

Resistance Surface Layer Eagle County Summit County Target Species: Elk Mule deer Bighorn sheep Canada lynx low resistance Canada lynx high resistance

Least Cost Analysis – Corridor Designer Eagle County Summit County Corridor Designer Identifies multiple paths, the lowest accumulated cost between cores Preliminarily identifies landscape linkages (corridors) for further investigation, e.g., linkage widths

Evaluating Modeled Linkage Areas Eagle County Summit County Overlay with independent species habitat data to demonstrate what’s being connected Colorado Parks and Wildlife Species Activity Maps data Probability of lynx highway crossing (Baigas et al. 2016) Linkages based on resistance surfaces are hypotheses, i.e., estimates of the best habitat connections based on target species preferences Linkages are not predictors of all wildlife movements across roads

Expert Input Identify linkage extents Stakeholders: Target species and value to target species Habitat and land uses Attractants and features that facilitate wildlife movement Barriers, threats and pinch points Stakeholders: USDA Forest Service Counties, Towns Wildlife & transportation agencies Bureau of Land Management Non-profit organizations Ski areas Local ranchers & citizens groups

Prioritization Criteria Wildlife/Biological

Prioritization Criteria Safety

Prioritization Criteria Urgency and Opportunity

Priority Highway Linkages

Non-motorized Recreation Ski Area USFS – Non-motorized Recreation Private USFS – Wildlife Habitat Ski Area USFS – Non-motorized Recreation

Outcomes Promotes collaboration for achieving connectivity goals Better consideration of connectivity across jurisdictional boundaries Stakeholder advancement of conservation/mitigation goals in highest priority linkage areas Common landscape vision for all entities Connectivity as one of many values for informing land use decision-making Highlight conservation actions and highway mitigation needs Ensure that limited $$ are spent on projects supported by our community with maximum benefit to wildlife

Conclusions Think big, be inclusive! Consider biological, physical and socio- economic landscapes Can’t afford to wait for perfect data Transparent, iterative approach Tools offer guidance, not set answers

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