The Maine Department of Transportation plans to resume a controversial logging project along Interstate 95 north of Bangor later this month.
But this winter, the DOT contractors will take additional steps to avoid drawing deer and other wildlife onto the highway.
Last year, the DOT hired a contractor to widen the vegetation-free zone on both sides of the interstate and in the median between Argyle and Benedicta. The idea behind the federally funded project was to enhance motorists’ ability to spot deer, moose and other wildlife gathering near the highway.
Unfortunately for the department — and for dozens of unlucky deer — the logging project coincided with one of the harshest winters on record. The downed trees quickly became an all-you-can-eat buffet for countless starving deer, some of whom inevitably ended up wandering into traffic.
Mark Latti, spokesman for the DOT, said the contractor last year ran out of time before the ground softened too much to continue logging. The work has to be done in winter to avoid damaging the terrain, which includes numerous wetlands, with the heavy equipment, Latti said.
As a result, the company, Gordon Construction, has 61 more acres of trees and brush to clear per its $560,000 contract with the state. Most of the work is located in small sections, although an 8-mile stretch between mile markers 227 and 235 will be cleared.
The DOT was heavily criticized for going forward with the logging project during a winter when biologists were predicting massive losses of deer largely from starvation. White-tailed deer struggle to survive when snow depths reach 2 feet, and many areas of northern Maine had 4 to 5 feet of snow on the ground in late March and early April.
Lee Kantar, the head deer biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said he and other DIF&W staff met with transportation officials to attempt to head off similar incidents this year. Kantar described the situation as “delicate” but said the DOT has been open to biologists’ suggestions.
Among the steps the contractors plan to take:
• Remove the green treetops within 24 hours of being felled.
• Log any areas near deer wintering areas first before the snow is too deep.
• Promptly remove any roadkill from the highway to avoid attracting eagles, Canada lynx and other scavengers near traffic lanes.
• Attempt to complete the project before March, when deer are desperately searching for reachable food.
“After last year, certainly the DOT heard loud and clear that we had a problem with what happened,” Kantar said. “They are going to do everything they can to minimize impacts on deer this year.”
Latti said DOT crews reported picking up about 30 dead deer in the 58-mile stretch of interstate during the clearing operation last year, although some motorists accused the department of underreporting the carnage. About five miles north of the cutting area, near Sherman, more than 70 deer were struck by vehicles last winter, Latti said.
Regardless, Latti acknowledged that resuming the logging project this winter is likely to infuriate some motorists and deer lovers still angry about last year.
“What people have to remember is we’ve had three fatalities along that stretch from people who struck moose,” Latti said. “Above all, this project is about maintaining a safe highway along that stretch. … In the long term, it will reduce” the number of collisions involving deer and moose.
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