Highway 93 cuts through the heart of the Mission Valley, and the middle of the Ninepipes wetlands. These wetlands provide crucial habitat for a variety of wildlife, including turtles.
Kari Kingery, is a wildlife biologist with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She’s scanning for Western painted turtles at the Crow Creek crossing along the highway, just south of Ronan.
"This spot is a unique area where we have two large wetlands on either side of the highway," Kingery says.
She says this spot has one of the highest mortality rates for turtles in Montana.
Kingery explains the terrapins have an innate urge to move from one pond to another every year, usually around early May. That means they have to cross the highway, and it’s treacherous.
"There is definitely that season where you see turtles or bits of turtles along the highway," Kingery says.
Roads are deadly barriers for wildlife of all sizes, from grizzly bears to tiny turtles, making it nearly impossible to get from one area to another. It’s a problem the Tribes have been working to fix for decades – like with the well-known Animals’ Way wildlife bridge over the highway near Evaro.
Back in her office, Kingery explains there are many areas in need of crossings. Over the last few years the Tribe has secured grants to reconstruct sections of the highway between St. Ignatius and Ronan.
"We have the opportunity to really include some large and smaller wildlife crossing structures to help kind of rebuild that connectivity between both sides of the highway there."
They are also looking at areas where they can restore divided wetlands. Kingery says it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. Existing culverts don’t meet turtles’ requirements to cross under the road.
"One of the things that we've learned about turtles is that if there isn't enough sufficient lighting throughout the structure or on the other side, that they're not going to really move through a dark tunnel," Kingery says.
The plan is to build underpasses here with enough light, water and open space for the turtles to move safely through.
Marcel Huijser is a road ecologist based in Montana. He researches wildlife crossings and how to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. His research has helped identify which species are most threatened by direct road mortality.
Huijser says smaller animals, like turtles, are often overlooked when people think about collisions, given their size and minimal impact to vehicles when they are hit.
"The impact on biological conservation – on reptiles, amphibians – of road mortality alone is huge compared to that of large wild mammals. And yes, there's grizzly bear on the list and there's red wolf on the list, but the small animal species, reptiles, amphibians, they get overlooked."
He explains that for wetland-dwelling turtles, roads serve as a high dry point, which is the exact type of habitat female turtles like to build their nests in. But, that means many adult female turtles end up closer to the road, and losing those breeding females can have devastating consequences.
"If you specifically expose these adult females to a natural mortality associated with roads, you're really having a mortality that is not sustainable to a population."
Huijser says building crossings, along with fences to help direct animals toward the crossing, is the solution to this problem.
Back in Ronan, Kingery chuckles as she describes how turtle fences are about a foot and a half high. Her love for these animals is clear in how she talks about this work, and she’s not alone. She says the community has a soft spot for these hard shelled creatures,
"Turtles are so exciting. They're so cute, adorable, everybody loves them. You know, everybody could get behind a turtle."
With the funding secured, they’re now entering the design phase for some construction work, turtle crossings included. Kingery says they hope to break ground in the next few years.
