Paying the price for moose-vehicle collisions

April 26, 2005

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

As a fourth-grader living in Anchorage, Gary Olson said good-bye to a school friend and turned around, walking smack into a cow moose with twins.

He dropped his lunchbox and ran. The irate mom stomped his Scooby-Doo lunchbox into the ground, and then chased young Olson out into traffic.

Not only did he walk away unharmed, Olson grew up to found the nonprofit Moose Conservation Federation.

"I have two little girls in kindergarten and first grade. I would not want them to have the same run-in with a moose as I did," Olson said Monday.

Through a program called Junior Moose Troop, his organization teaches schoolchildren that they should not feed moose or throw snowballs at them.

The federation also helps with projects to relocate moose that threaten humans or traipse in front of vehicles. The nonprofit seeks federal dollars to construct a fence along the Glenn Highway, to discourage moose from entering the heavily trafficked road.

Of the 1,322 moose-vehicular collision statewide, 376 involved drivers hitting moose on Valley roadways last winter, according to Olson. One person died. One-fourth of all the collisions resulted in serious injuries that caused temporary loss of work or permanent disabilities.

"That's $18 million in property damage, just for wrecked cars. How much is a human life worth?" Olson said, adding that fences and moose overpasses along the Glenn Highway could help keep moose away from traffic.

Fencing and two overpasses along the Palmer Hay Flats stretch of highway, from the Knik Bridge to the Parks Highway intersection, would cost $9 million, Olson said.

Federal highway safety dollars - separate from money for road-building - could fuel the funding for the "No Moose Commute" project. Olson would like to see a moose fence along the Glenn Highway, from Anchorage to the Mat- Su Borough.

"This project needs more community support. It's such a great cause. Nobody should be against it. Residents should tell the DOT: 'We're tired of playing Russian roulette with moose every time we get in the car,'" Olson said. "Moose don't read those danger moose signs."

The founder of the federation says moose are inclined to use the underpasses or overpasses to cross roads.

"You think the moose will use them. Between Fort Richardson Gate and Muldoon Road, which was previously the number one moose-vehicle collision corridor, they fenced off the road and built a tunnel below Ship Creek. The moose have been using the tunnel since it was built in 1986," he said.

Olson and his nonprofit group have been working closely with the Alaska Department of Transportation to find ways to decrease the number of moose finding food along the roads.

Instead of letting tiny trees take over after an area has been hydro-axed, the confederation would get rid of the roots along easements and replant arctic red fescue, a grass moose don't eat. Then, the volunteers would clear pathways to guide moose toward new eating areas.

"When you hydro-axe, you create a moose buffet. We want to change their wintering practices. They're willing to put up with cars because food is nearby," Olson said. "They'll always cross the road because they're migrating. We want to decrease the time moose spend hanging out along the road."

The nonprofit joined a partnership with the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage to welcome orphaned moose calves to a special facility, with areas where visitors can bottle-feed calves.

"We're weeks away from having calves in our arms," he said.

When the nonprofit relocates one female moose, that's equivalent to moving 200-plus moose into the wild, Olson said.

"What is a nuisance here is an incredible asset to rural villages," said Olson, talking about relocating problem moose to those rural areas that rely on a healthy moose population for subsistence lifestyles.

For more information on the nonprofit group, people may check out the www.growmoremoose.org Web site.