New Hampshire’s First Amphibian Tunnels

An illustration from the book Safe Crossing by Kari Pervical, which tells the story of a community coming together to protect migrating amphibians. 
 (illustration © Kari Percival/Chronicle Books)

A Groundbreaking Conservation Project Years in the Making

Every year, on the first warm, rainy nights of spring, thousands of spotted salamanders, wood frogs, spring peepers, and other amphibians migrate en masse to vernal pools and other wetlands to breed. In places where they must cross roads, many are killed by passing cars. Studies have shown that this road mortality can have significant impacts on local amphibian populations — and that it doesn’t take a lot of cars to do a lot of damage.

To help, the Harris Center coordinates community science efforts to reduce amphibian roadkill at scores of crossing hotspots throughout southwest New Hampshire. Since 2007, we’ve trained more than 2,500 Salamander Crossing Brigade volunteers, who have collectively moved more than 100,000 individual amphibians to safety — but we can’t carry every frog across every road. Our hope is that the data collected by our volunteers can inform more lasting conservation solutions, such as targeted road closures on amphibian migration nights or other road improvements for wildlife.

Now, plans are underway for New Hampshire’s very first amphibian underpasses and accompanying guide walls at our Jordan Road crossing site in Keene. This site was chosen because of the presence of Jefferson complex salamanders, which are a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the Granite State — and because of our many years of community science data collection at this crossing site, as well as our collaboration with the City of Keene on Big Night detours.

A Jefferson complex salamander heads for their breeding pool after being shepherded across Jordan Road by a Salamander Brigade volunteer.
(photo © Nate Marchessault)

NH Fish and Game, the City of Keene, and the Harris Center will partner on the project, which is supported with grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative.

“The Harris Center is thrilled to be part of the first community-based amphibian tunnel project in New Hampshire,” said Brett Amy Thelen, the Harris Center’s science director and longtime coordinator of the Salamander Brigade program. “In addition to restoring habitat connectivity and protecting vulnerable amphibian species, we hope this project will serve as a demonstration site and provide momentum for similar restoration efforts throughout New England.”

The amphibian underpasses at Monkton Road in Monkton, Vermont (pictured) reduced amphibian road mortality at that site by more than 80 percent.  (photo © Chris Slesar)

A High-Priority Restoration Site

Harris Center staff and volunteers collect amphibian migration data during a Big Night on Jordan Road. (photo © Nina Duggan)

The Jordan Road amphibian underpasses are part of a larger NH Fish and Game project that aims to “shift the vision of what is possible to help critically imperiled wildlife populations and preserve biodiversity.” This project also includes building turtle tunnels for at-risk turtle species in Nottingham and Newmarket; as with the Jordan Road crossing in Keene, these sites were selected as high-priority for conservation after more than a decade of monitoring and planning.

According to Sandra Houghton, wildlife diversity biologist with NH Fish and Game’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, “wetland fragmentation and road densities pose direct threats to semi-aquatic turtles and vernal pool amphibians as they move through the landscape for reproduction, food, shelter, and dispersal.” Guiding wildlife to appropriately sized underpasses not only reduces the risks posed by cars, but also restores connectivity between wildlife populations on both sides of the road, allowing for gene flow and greater resilience in local populations of at-risk species.

Next Steps

You may not see anything happening on the ground at Jordan Road as the team works on planning, design, and permitting —  but rest assured that work is going on behind the scenes, and that we will share more updates on this exciting project as they become available!