I don' know nuthin' 'bout "best practices," except that some of them are far
from "best," and (largely because of the term) some downright dangerous.
Better to use your own brain than to obediently follow uncritically. (Not
that anyone on this list would do that.) The problem with "best practices"
is that once they are cast in concrete they're hell to change.
Still, asking this group for ideas is not a bad idea as long as you are sure
you are out of ideas. I like the "brainstorming" approach to
problem-solving. The best book on this that I've seen (I would like to know
about better ones) is called "Planning and Design," by Dickerson and
Robertshaw. The methodology was used to get "us" to the moon and back. But
it isn't rocket-science, just USEFUL for rocket science and working out
problems like yours.
'Way back in the last millennium when I was still worthy of a paycheck now
and then, there used to be signs advertising "Burma-Shave." They would
usually be poetically funny--they rhymed. In your case they could be funny
and/or shocking. But there wasn't just one sign, but a series of several
signs (with very short bits of the "poem,", widely-spaced along the highway,
but close enough to see the next one coming up. The next to last one would
have the punch line/word, and the last one would just say "Burma-Shave." The
design of the signs was simple, with large block lettering if I remember
correctly, and they did not require the driver to take her eyes off the road
to read a long bit of text. They're just enough to pique your interest and
get your cooperation (you knew that) rather than your compliance.
The text of the signs should not be dictatorial in spirit, but one of
presuming that the reader already knows that they can be killed as well as
the moose or whatever.
I look forward to seeing your solutions.
WT
PS: Utah has some nice "stile" designs for elk, to keep herds moving across
fences and they concentrate the crossing to certain, known places. But this
works only if there is fencing. Without the sitles that make crossing
easier, animals will just jump the fence--or try to. With them, they will
follow the fence until they encounter the stile. There's probably a limit to
how far the animals will follow the fence (I'd like to see data on that). I
suspect that the stiles are placed at known animal-crossing locations.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Amber Law" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 11:22 AM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] wildlife crossing sign design?
Hi Brett,
Have you contacted the New Hampshire DOT? I work for the Colorado DOT and
I
know we keep road kill reports and put in a lot of wildlife crossings. I
am sure the New Hampshire DOT has many years of good information. They
probably have some good ideas on what signage works best in your area and
can point you in the right direction as far as studies.
Good luck!
Amber Law
*Hydrologic Resource Specialist*
State of Colorado, Department of Transportation
4201 East Arkansas Avenue, Shumate Bldg
Denver, Colorado 80222
Office: 303-757-9814
On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 10:25 AM, Martin Meiss <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi, Brett,
Unfortunately, I can't help you with sign design, but it would
be
neat if you got a couple of seasons of road-kill data before you put the
signs up. That way you could conduct a before-and-after study and see if
the signs actually do any good, or with enough time and data, you could
find out if certain sign designs are more effective at preventing road
kill
than others.
Martin M. Meiss
2013/3/12 Brett Amy Thelen <[email protected]>
> Hello ECOLOGers --
>
> I work for a land trust and conservation education in southwest New
> Hampshire, and we have gotten the go-ahead to place wildlife crossing
signs
> on certain sections of road that bisect a large corridor of our
> conserved
> land. We're hoping to conduct baseline road mortality studies on these
> roads in the summer and fall, to supplement our anecdotal observations
> of
> wildlife crossings and roadkill at these sites and to inform sign
placement.
>
> In the meantime, we're looking for guidance on effective sign design
> (wording, imagery, size, shape, etc.) I've done a fair bit of reading
> on
> crossing structures, but haven't yet comes across much on signage. Can
> anyone point me to studies or "best practices" documents related to
> wildlife crossing signs?
>
> Best,
>
> Brett Amy Thelen
> Program Director, Ashuelot Valley Environmental Observatory
> Harris Center for Conservation Education
> 83 King's Highway
> Hancock, NH 03449
> [email protected]
>
>
--
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be
happy, practice compassion.
The Dalai Lama (1935 - )
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