UBAP program lead and ornithologist Anastasia Rahlin was invited to present at the 2023 Railroad Environmental Conference (RREC). Her talk, titled “Railway Ecology: Using Railway Corridors to Restore Native Habitats and Preserve Biodiversity,” discussed the emerging field and made recommendations for future research.There are 48,000 hectares of railway right of way in Illinois, 774,000 hectares in the US, and 4,122,000 hectares globally which could be managed for wildlife conservation.
Rahlin discussed where research efforts should be focused”
Collisions and wildlife crossings
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- Continue fencing high-speed railways
- Create wildlife passages for low-vagility species
Habitat Restoration
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- Maintain native plant diversity in verges
- Focus on restoring grasslands – appear more susceptible to invasive species
Species monitoring and management
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- Expand focus from large mammals
- Standardized, repeated surveys needed to establish baselines
- Need for robust occupancy and abundance models
- Multi-year monitoring before and after construction/expansions
- Investigate life history parameters for well-studied species
- Adaptive management framework
Future Research
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- Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) designs
- Establish experimental vegetation plots along verges
- Take advantage of novel technology