Wildlife Protection

Keeping It Simple: Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads

Silt fence, buckets, and volunteers prove curb is safe for salamanders

A 7-inch curb on a road in rural Montgomery County, Maryland is no problem for migrating spotted salamanders. When the curb was installed on Route 109 to control runoff and prevent erosion, the Maryland State Highway Agency put up salamander "trap lines" - a silt fence and plastic buckets buried at 50-foot intervals - to verify the curb was not a barrier to the amphibians. The salamanders climbed the sloped face of the curb and moved along the fence till they fell into a bucket. Environmental science students from nearby Poolesville High School monitored the trap lines with local residents, collecting the salamanders they found and releasing them to continue their journey to and from favorite breeding ponds.

--Apr 25, 2003

Rob Shreeve, (410) 545-8644 or rshreeve@sha.state.md.us

Spotted salamander

Along Roads - Maryland