Wildlife project underway on Hwy 95

Boundary County is at the forefront of wildlife detection systems on roadways. A pilot project has been installed near Moose Valley Farms, south of Naples, to test new technology.

After the technology is calibrated and fine-tuned, drivers on Highway 95 will be notified of animal movement on or near the roadway by flashing lights. 

The 750-foot corridor begins at the north end of Moose Valley Farms and continues north to the curve in the highway. The area was identified by the Western Transportation Institute as a wildlife-collision hotspot in Boundary County. 

“This gives drivers a good chance to avoid collisions,” said Brice Sloan, Sloan Security Technologies president. “There is no mobile system like this out there.”

As a prototype, the system helps with detection but doesn’t capture everything said Norm Merz, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, at a Wildlife-Auto Collision meeting on Dec. 6. The pilot project has been tested in four other locations during development, including southern Idaho and Salt Lake City.

During calibration in early December, Sloan worked to remove false detections. The goal of the system is to detect objects moving between 2 km/h and 8 km/h (1.2 mph to 5 mph), which would include animals, pedestrians and the occasional slow moving vehicle. The main objective is to reduce animal-vehicle collisions. 

The wildlife detection system utilizes Doppler radar to detect movement within the field of view. Once detected, lights attached to road signs at both ends of the corridor begin to flash and continue to flash for five minutes. 

A thermal camera is also on utilized in the system to verify what is setting off the detection. During calibration, the thermal images provide vital information on whether the lights were set by an animal or vehicle.

All data is wirelessly sent to Sloan Security Technologies. The data is going beyond Sloan Security Technologies to help students gain real-world experience. Some of Ed Katz’s high school students have volunteered to analyze the data and help with programming. One project may be determining if vehicle speed changes when an animal is detected and the lights begin flashing.

“Katz and his students are really helpful,” said Sloan. “We are impressed. We are really excited about student involvement.”

The entire wildlife detection system pilot project has been a collaborative effort from the beginning and the inclusion of high school students adds to the community’s benefit from the project. Others involved in the project are the Idaho Transportation Department, Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative, Idaho Fish and Game, Western Transportation Institute, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, The Nature Conservancy and the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. 

“We are all on the same team to make it work,” said Cameron Crawford of Sloan Security Technologies. “We are excited about the partnership with everybody.”

After a month at the current location, the wildlife detection system will be moved to another location in the county to test different conditions.

“Everybody will be looking at this,” said Don Davis, Idaho Transportation Department. “It has huge potential.”