‘Moose corridors’ could provide road for moose management

TRAPPER CREEK — After four years of talk, Gary Olson finally got to go to work last week.

As head of the Alaska Moose Federation, Olson has been a man on a mission, telling anyone who’d listen that an increase in moose populations can go hand-in-hand with a decrease in the number of motor vehicle collisions with the large animals, which can weigh upwards of 1,200 pounds.

That mission is what brought Olson and two dedicated volunteers into the black spruce swamps outside Trapper Creek last week. There, riding inside two tank-like Sno-cats (pasted with stickers reading “Moose Force One”) and armed with chainsaws, a global positioning system and a little knowledge about the winter feeding habits of the world’s largest deer, the three men set to work constructing what amounts to a winter feeding trail designed to keep moose happy, healthy and at home far from the highway this winter.

With a heavy snow beginning to fall, Olson explained the concept.

“When you start seeing the highlands get more snow, those moose start moving in,” he said. “The whole plan here is we’re trying to intercept them and get them to hold in areas off the highway corridors.”

While Olson spoke, the father-son team of Willow residents Farley and Bryce Dean readied the Sno-cats for a trip into the wilderness. The Deans volunteered their time and equipment to the project this winter when they heard of Olson’s ongoing efforts to improve moose habitat away from highways.

After spending eight hours driving the Sno-cats up the Parks Highway from Willow, the Deans began running through the swamps on Jan. 16. Despite heavy snows in the area, the men managed to create roughly 20 miles of trails through the swampy areas between the Parks Highway and the Susitna River drainage.

While Olson explained the work being done, an impatient Farley Dean just wanted to hit the snow.

“You guys will have all day to talk about this,” he said.

Olson got the message, and within minutes the men were aboard the Sno-cats and heading for the snow-covered swamps.

Once the machinery got rolling, Farley Dean (who once shot a 70-inch bull moose on the Koyukuk River) explained the concept. He said moose spend lots of energy trying to find good browse, which includes alder and willow. In deep snow, the animals will often move away from wooded areas and toward highway corridors, which provide both good footing and ample browse from clear-cutting the right of way. If a “highway” through the swamps can be created, he reasons, the moose should have no reason to stray from their habitat.

“Whether it’s dog sled or snowmachine or whatever, they go to the path of least resistance, so we put in a 13-foot-wide trail for them,” he said.

With his son and Olson following behind, Farley Dean deftly guided his 12,000-pound Sno-cat through — and sometimes over — the spindly black spruce that populates the marshy areas. While the trails the machines packed down seemed random, he said that’s not the case. He pointed to moose tracks running between tree “islands” that included healthy stands of birch, willow and alder. Dean then showed how the groomed trails followed similar lines.

“Pretty much right on the edge of the swamp is where we want to go,” he said.

While the work is important, Dean admitted the chance to run his machines for hours through the sparse, snow-covered wilderness is part of the reason he signed on for the project.

“What a great job, huh?” he asked.

Where the big machines ran, the difference was impressive. While taking a break from driving, Bryce Dean easily walked along the hardpacked trails. One step off, however, and he sank to his waist in snow. The men have marked the trails with GPS points so they can return later in the winter to make sure the trails stay groomed.

“We’ve got the whole circumference of that swamp mapped out,” Olson said.

In addition to the trails, the men also cut several birch trees down in known feeding areas in order to further draw moose into the islands.

By the numbers

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that an average of about 300 moose are struck and killed each winter in the Mat-Su alone. Statewide, as many as 812 moose have been killed in a single winter (2003). That number has been rising steadily over the past two decades as Alaska’s human population has increased.

Until now, moose mitigation measures have been few and far between. Where work has been done, collisions have gone down. One example is a fence that runs along the Glenn Highway corridor from Anchorage to Fort Richardson. Where that fence was put in place, collisions between moose and vehicles were immediately cut by more than half.

Statewide, moose mitigation efforts began to change last September, when a task force made up of state and federal agencies decided to include moose mitigation into the integrated State Highway Safety Plan, which has a stated goal of cutting all highway fatalities in Alaska by one-third over the next decade.

That move also allowed Olson’s Alaska Moose Federation to begin getting in on the act. With grants from the state and federal government in hand, Olson got money for fuel and support for the new trails project. He then got permission from private landowners in the area, as well as from the Department of Natural Resources, to begin putting in the trails.

The work, Olson said, is something he’s been dreaming of since he formed the federation four years ago.

“It took a long time to get all that stuff finalized,” he said.

The work being done along the Parks Highway in the Susitna Valley is one step in what Olson hopes will be a long march toward cutting moose collisions on Alaska’s highways.

“There is no silver bullet,” he said.

Other work being done or in the planning stages includes using bulldozers and brush cutters to create remote stands of vegetation where moose can thrive. In addition, Olson would like to see measures already used in other rural states, such as wildlife crossing corridors and electronic warning devices, to further cut down on accidents.

The sooner work is done the better, Olson said. Since July 2007, six Alaska residents have been killed in moose collisions, including Army Spc. Steven Cavanaugh, a Ft. Richardson soldier who struck a moose and died in December shortly after returning from duty in Iraq.

Cavanaugh’s picture is displayed prominently in both Sno-cats, a constant reminder that keeping moose and vehicles away from one another is a worthwhile endeavor. And the trails project, Olson hopes, will help further that goal.

“If we can get them to go into those areas, a lot of people are going to get home and not have to worry about having a moose in their car.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com.