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Wildlife Protection

Keeping It Simple: Easy Ways to Help Wildlife Along Roads

On Wetlands and Uplands

Wetlands and adjoining uplands provide habitat for about one third of all federally endangered and threatened plant and animal species and nesting spots for more than half of the country's birds. Since colonial times, these valuable wetlands have been disappearing. Twenty-two states have lost at least half of their original wetlands; several states have lost more than 90 percent of their wetlands. Reversing the trend of disappearing wetlands and enhancing the values and functions of new and existing wetlands involves "complex" solutions like wetland mitigation banking and tailoring clean-water strategies to specific watershed conditions. Reversing the trend also has a lot to do with applying "simple" strategies that protect, enhance, or even create wetlands. In the examples highlighted below, you'll read about simple efforts ranging from building a nesting box to creating bird perches and small-animal habitats to avoiding practices that interfere with "natural" vegetation growth.

Title: Turning a Construction Site into Wetland Habitat
State: Alaska
Title: Creating fish habitat out of a gravel pit
State: Alaska
Title: Old Christmas trees create "instant" fish habitat
State: Arkansas
Title: Wetlands raptor platforms: "Build it and they will come"
State: Arkansas
Title: Building homeless shelters for burrowing owls
State: California
Title: Transforming "dead" tidal flats just by adding culverts
State: Florida
Title: Healthy mangroves, healthy ecosystems
State: Florida
Title: Transferring management responsibilities on wetland sites helps wildlife
State: Georgia
Title: "Aviation balls" on power lines protect flying storks
State: Georgia
Title: Using proven planting methods for longer-lived hardwoods
State: Georgia
Title: River otters get new homes thanks to scrap metal and a few dollars
State: Maryland
Title: Leaf-eating beetle rids Michigan wetland of purple loosestrife
State: Michigan
Title: Rough pond-bottoms and inverted root wads increase wildlife diversity on wetlands
State: Minnesota
Title: Angled Bars in Cave Gate Ease Travel for Bats
State: Missouri
Title: "Making waves" enhances habitat and wildlife diversity
State: Nebraska
Title: Introducing mosquito-eating fish to wetland eliminates the need for spraying
State: Nevada
Title: Centrally located nesting box attracts birds and aids monitoring
State: New Hampshire
Title: Turtles get nesting habitat when sandy soil is left intact
State: New Hampshire
Title: Improving a culvert keeps turtles on the wetland - and off the road
State: New Jersey
Title: Creating a new wetland by not filling-in an old stream channel
State: Ohio
Title: Creating "bunny condos" where forests join fields
State: Pennsylvania
Title: "Doing nothing" creates diverse habitats for wetland wildlife
State: Rhode Island
Title: "Mound-planting" wetland oak seedlings for better survival
State: Tennessee
Title: Randomly placed rocks and fallen trees draw wildlife to new wetland areas
State: Vermont
Title: Catching a Snake with Bare Hands
State: Vermont
Title: Letting nature take its course along a stream bank
State: Washington
Title: Creating small-animal habitat from logs and brush
State: Washington
Updated: 12/12/2012
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