… Because He Couldn’t Find A Culvert!

“Look both ways before crossing the road” is a phrase that most people are probably familiar with, since it’s been drilled into our brains since we very young as a way to promote safety in areas with high vehicle traffic. But what about the native wildlife species that share the University of West Georgia campus and its surrounding areas? What road-crossing precautions have been set up to ensure that your friendly neighborhood possum doesn’t wind up ‘playing possum’ permanently?

The answer may be right under your feet and just out of sight.

Turns out that drainage culverts are used for more than just redirecting rainwater runoff. They actually provide safe passages for wildlife to move under, rather than over, the roads. Underpasses over creeks and rivers act the same way, opening up large areas for potential game trails well underneath the roads overhead. Depending on the location, size, and vegetative cover around the culvert or underpass, a wide variety of species might utilize these crossings.

For UWG’s Conservation Biology class research project, motion-sensing trail cameras were placed on three different sites on and near the University of West Georgia campus: a large culvert, a large underpass, and a smaller underpass. The culvert site also doubled as a drainage site and so it had a small amount of water constantly moving through it, whereas both of the underpass sites were set next to large creeks.

In addition to the sites our group monitored, four other groups also placed game cameras on several other culverts and underpasses on or near the University of West Georgia campus.

Numerous studies have reviewed the factors that affect the use of culverts by mammal species. These researchers considered the culverts to be an essential linkage between habitats. And even though West Georgia is considered one of the most ‘natural’ campus in the nation, connecting these small sections of habitat is still vital to maintaining the wildlife species that call it home.

Site 1: The Culvert

For this first site, the cameras were set on both ends of a large culvert underneath a heavily used footpath. Despite being more than big enough for a person to comfortably walk through, this particular crossing was frequented only by small mammals, in this case, raccoons (Procyon lotor) and the feral cats (Felis catus) for which the campus is well known. It was also noted that, while the cats were photographed at all times of the day, raccoons were only seen while it was dark, either in the early morning or very late evening. These animals most likely use this culvert because it is a safe and feasible way to avoid being in the open, especially in this area where human traffic is constant. Without this culvert, these animals would probably have quite a bit more trouble travelling from one place to another.

Site 2: The Underpass

The second setup was underneath a large underpass on Stadium Drive which was very open (the ceiling was nearly twenty feet over ours heads while the entire area underneath measured just over a hundred feet in length). The two sites we placed cameras on were near a portion of the Little Tallapoosa River and were backed by large amounts of vegetative cover. Between the two cameras, six different native species were photographed.

Based on the multitude of animal tracks at this site, it’s likely there were more species (such as turkey) that were not captured on these two cameras. Another set of cameras placed further from the river under the same overpass captured photos of other animals, most surprisingly a bobcat, scientific name Lynx rufus. If this underpass wasn’t present, or if it had been a smaller and more closed-in culvert, the number of species found here would probably dramatically decrease. Larger animals, like the white-tail deer and bobcat, would be unable to use a smaller passage, preventing their movement between the small habitats around campus.

Site 3: The Smaller Underpass

Our last site was located at another underpass on the Little Tallapoosa River, however this site was a few miles away from campus, in a more rural area. Additionally, this underpass was slightly smaller, coming in a just over fifteen feet in height and fifty feet in length. Here, there was a great variety of wildlife species, seven to be exact.

It’s easy to see, after viewing all of the photos collected from all sites, that the safe road crossings provided by culverts and underpasses are essential in allowing wildlife to move unhindered through habitat fragments. It’s also necessary that the sizes and types of crossing areas be varied so that multiple species might use them.

For more information on culverts and underpasses and how they aid in wildlife movement, there will be a presentation given in the University of West Georgia’s Biology Department on December 2nd and 3rd.