Transportation Corridors as Vehicles for Cultural and Ecological Regeneration - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 352

FIGURE 17.23 Cougars captured by wildlife monitoring camera at Ravalli Hill underpass
near National Bison Wildlife Refuge.
native revegetation of a harsh roadside environment. These guidelines included sal-
vage, preservation, restoration, and maintenance recommendations. Preservation
and salvage were the primary means used to minimize revegetation costs, first by
minimizing the area disturbed during construction, and second by salvaging vegeta-
tion from areas that required disturbance. The salvaged material provided an excel-
lent source of locally adapted plants that could be installed along the re-constructed
roadside.
Revegetation provided other functions in addition to the standard roadside
erosion control. At the wildlife crossings plantings reduced the visual and noise
impacts of the highway, and provided improved habitat to facilitate structure use.
This concept is illustrated in the planting plans for wildlife crossing undercross-
ing at Ravalli Hill, which clearly show the connection between vegetation, wildlife
fencing, jump-outs, and wildlife structure (Figures 17.24). These elements work
together as a system to promote safe wildlife passage through the structure, rather
than across the road.
Revegetation also restored the visual character along the corridor, a land-
scape characterized by open agricultural areas punctuated by rural towns. Native
landscape plantings helped to integrate the highway within the six communities
along the U.S. 93 corridor, and also enhance the identity of these distinct towns
or cities by reinforcing the particular regional plant palette. For example, the
town of Pablo is the tribal government center and is located in a unique dune and
Ponderosa Pine landscape complex. This dune and pine system will now flow