The serprntine devil: roads in the wood - a study on the impacts of a national highway on wildlife in Haridwar Forest Division

Abstract

1. The ongoing and reckless development of linear infrastructure around the world can well be compared to sweet venom. Sweet for humans, venom for wildlife. Roads in particular, entail wide ranging impacts on wildlife. The most conspicuous of all is wildlife mortalities due to collision with vehicles. Of the indirect impacts i.e., barrier effects are the most widely acknowledged. For wild animals, these effects can lead to the development of avoidance behaviour (road avoidance, vehicle avoidance and traffic emission avoidance). Road densities around the world are expected to increase rapidly in the near future which will magnify the impact on natural habitats. It is therefore imperative to study the ill effects of roads, factors influencing them and suggest effective mitigations measures. 2. My study aimed to understand the impacts of a 30km stretch of National Highway 74 on wildlife in Haridwar Forest Division. The highway bisects the intensive study area (150 sq km.), cutting through three wildlife rich forest ranges of the Haridwar Forest Division. The highway carries a huge traffic volume and a high number of road-kills have been reported in the past. 3. The study was carried out with the following objectives: 1. to understand the extent of wildlife mortalities and the factors governing them ii. to understand ungulate habitat use and density distribution with respect to road iii. to suggest effective mitigation measures that can minimise the impact of NH- 74 on wildlife in the study area