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“A deer in the headlights” is not a cliche in Utah, because a major driving hazard in the Beehive State is wildlife.

There were 2,931 reported animal and automobile collisions on Utah roads in 2014, according to a report compiled by the Utah Department of Public Safety, Utah High Way Safety and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

More than, 2,400 of those incidents involved hitting a wild animal.

On Feb. 6, a one-mile stretch of east and westbound Interstate 80 lanes were closed at Lambs Canyon so Department of Wildlife resources could herd a dozen elk and a cow moose to escape routes across the freeway.

While there are many other incidents that go unreported, the Utah Department of
Transportation is doing something about it.

It has contracted ecologist and researcher Patty Cramer to study wildlife and highway crossings in Utah for more than a decade.

The public is invited to hear Cramer’s findings when Cramer presents “Why Did the Moose Cross the Road? Making Highway Crossings Safer for All,” presented by the Wasatch Back chapter of the Sierra Club, from 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, at the Swaner EcoCenter.

Cramer began working with UDOT to examine effectiveness, design and locations for wildlife crossings, said Marion Klaus, of the Wasatch Back chapter of the Sierra Club.

“Patty has been documenting her results, which I found interesting, and I believe we’ll see some of them during her presentation,” Klaus said. “She has a number of motion-sensor cameras set up around the state, and tries to figure out where to put the crossings.”

Cramer also finds if the wildlife use these crossings and if the crossings work within the animals’ migration behaviors.

In 2015, she was named the Utah Department of Transportation’s 2015 Trailblazer of the Year for her work.

“I’ve helped her gather information at Lambs Canyon and the Echo Reservoir area to monitor the effectiveness of underpasses that the wildlife use to cross the highways,” Klaus said. “The goal of these crossings is to reduce traffic incidents and steer the animals away from residential areas. It’s not a good thing to hit a moose.”

Assisting Cramer has been eye-opening for Klaus.

“I found it interesting that the animals have to be funneled down and encouraged to find the crossings,” she said. “Once they do, though, most learn quickly, although there are some that have problems.

“Since I’m originally from Wyoming, I know that pronghorn antelope don’t like crossing in underpasses, but a biologist figured out if they installed mirrors at either side of the crossings, the antelope would look and see another pronghorn and feel it is OK to cross.”

Klaus has known Cramer since college.

“I met patty when we both were in graduate school at Montana State University,” she said. “I was working on my Ph.D. in ecological genetics and she was working on her masters at that time.”

Cramer then moved to Florida and received her Ph.D., studying wildlife crossings and moved back to Utah to work with UDOT.

Klaus felt Cramer’s research would make a great presentation.

“In general, we try to present environmental-based programs that have community interest,” Klaus said. “For example, we have been doing monthly socials. Our last one was at Molly Blooms and we had Wendy Fisher talked about raising money to preserve Bonanza Flats.”

Last year, the Wasatch Back chapter of the Sierra Club participated in the Live PC Give PC day-long fundraiser, said Klaus, who is the volunteer co-lead for the nonprofit’s Our Wild America Campaign.
“Some of the money we raised is helping bring Patty to Park City,” Klaus said.

While the crossings do help, Klaus said the situation of animals being struck by automobiles isn’t going away anytime soon.
“As for the wildlife finding its way into residential areas, it’s not their fault,” she said. “We have actually moved into their habitat. We are the ones who are encroaching on their property, and that’s something we have to consider when we build our subdivisions.

“You can build them on a small footprint that leaves a lot of open space for the animals to use, or you can sprawl out, which leaves the possibility of the animals coming closer to people.”

Still, Klaus sees the benefits of living close to wildlife.

“For me, to know there is wildlife and to occasionally see animals increases the pleasure of living here,” she said. “I know people love seeing animals. So we have to make sure that we try to help them stay healthy and cross roads without causing damage to others and themselves.”

Ecologist and researcher Patty Cramer, who has been commissioned by the Utah Department of Transportation to study wildlife and highway crossings in Utah, will give a presentation called “Why Did the Moose Cross the Road” from 6:30-8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, at the Swaner EcoCenter, 1258 Center Drive at Kimball Junction.
The event is $5 for the general public and free for Swaner EcoCenter members. For information, visit http://www.swanerecocenter.org.

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The Park City Police Department last week responded to a series of calls about moose or other wildlife sightings, continuing a string of cases that has continued through much of the winter.

The cases last week include sightings of moose close to roads. Public police logs did not indicate there were problems, however.

Some of the reports last week included:

• on Saturday, March 11 at 10:08 a.m., a cow moose and a calf were seen somewhere along Park Avenue. The police were told people were surrounding the animals. Some of the people were within a few feet of the moose, the police were told.
• on Friday, March 10 at 6:51 p.m., someone told the police they saw a moose “hanging out” near a creek. The report was logged on Sullivan Road, a small street that borders City Park and is close to Poison Creek.
• on March 10 at 5:37 p.m., two moose were seen in the road along Holiday Ranch Loop Road. The police were told people were taking pictures. The person who contacted the Police Department was worried people were getting too close to the moose, according to police logs.
• on March 10 at 7:41 a.m., two moose were seen close to the road on Kearns Boulevard. The person who contacted the Police Department was worried the animals would move into the road.
• on Tuesday, March 7 at 4:38 p.m., two moose were seen in the road along Thaynes Canyon Drive. Drivers needed to stop, the police were told.There were several other moose sightings reported to the Police Department in addition to a series of other wildlife reports without the species identified in public police logs.

  The Police Department this winter has responded to numerous wildlife reports, including moose, deer and mountain lions.

  State wildlife officials have said the animals moved to lower elevations after the heavy snowfall during the early winter. The animals that feed on vegetation needed to move down from the higher elevations to find food sources while the mountain lions followed the prey animals to lower elevations, the wildlife officials said.

  Some of the moose have posed a hazard for drivers. A private transportation bus hit a moose on S.R. 224 in January, leaving the animal with injuries that required it be put down.

  Police officers responding to a moose report typically ensure people do not approach the animal. If a moose becomes a continuing problem, state wildlife officials consider relocating the animal out of Park City. The animals are typically tranquilized, loaded into a trailer and released into mountainous areas well outside of populated areas during a relocation operation.

  Phil Kirk, a police captain, said he spotted two moose off Lucky John Drive on Monday morning. The animals could be siblings, he said. Kirk said people must be cautious around moose, especially when a cow and a calf are together. He said a cow moose may see a person as a threat to the calf. Kirk said the moose move into neighborhoods to find food sources.

  “There’s a lot of vegetation down here, especially in people’s yards, and they’re taking advantage of that,” Kirk said.

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Phil Kirk, a police captain, said a bus belonging to a transportation company was driving inbound on S.R. 224 in the vicinity of the intersection with Meadows Drive when the animal stepped into the road.

The moose suffered an unspecified number of broken legs, Kirk said. A police officer shot and killed the moose based on the injuries. Law enforcement or state wildlife officers typically put down an animal if it is badly injured in a traffic accident. The moose was a bull that appeared to be two years old, the police said.

Kirk said there were 16 people on the bus at the time of the accident. The Police Department said in an online posting the driver suffered minor injuries that were treated at the scene. The bus suffered damage to the front end. It needed to be towed from the scene, Kirk said.

The accident was reported at 12:27 a.m. on Jan. 29. The online posting said the road was closed briefly as emergency crews responded.

Moose sightings are regularly reported to the Police Department, but it is rare for a moose to be involved in a traffic accident.

The death of the moose on S.R. 224 occurred amid a series of sightings. On the morning of Jan. 28, a cow moose and a calf were spotted bedded down close to a pool along Park Avenue, drawing attention from people in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival. In the evening two days earlier, a cow moose and a calf were spotted close to the Marsac Avenue-Hillside Avenue intersection. They were apparently running on the road, the police were told. On Jan. 30, meanwhile, the Police Department said it fielded calls about a moose seen on the 900 block of Park Avenue.

Law enforcement officers and wildlife officers say people should not approach a moose and they should keep pets away from the animals. Law enforcement sometimes monitors a moose if there is concern it could pose a danger to people or pets. In rare cases, wildlife officers must tranquilize a moose and move it to an unpopulated location in the mountains.

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