Rope Ladder Crossings
We manufacture and install four different types of fauna rope ladder crossings. We have found that the Flat Rope and the Boxed Rope ladder crossings are the most preferred fauna bridge crossings. These are made out of a silver rope, and the ropes are spliced to get the required effect.
These ladders can sometimes be anywhere from 40 to 80 metres long and are made in 10-metre segments to allow easy installation.
What is the used of Rope Ladder Crossings
To lessen the impact of roads on animal death and habitat fragmentation, wildlife crossings over or under roadways may be provided. They are typically in the form of tunnels or bridges of various forms. These may not be suited for mammals that spend the majority of their time higher up within trees.
Rope Ladder Crossings are used for the protection of the mammal species like sugar gliders, squirrels, and also ringtail possum. The concept allows these small marsupials to reconnect with their natural environment, which has been decimated by major highway development.
Rope bridges have been tested in the United States and here in Australia to interconnect habitat and reduce road mortality for arboreal mammal species. Rather than looking at population-level effects or implications on road fatality, most monitoring takes the form of tracking the use of crossings.
Effectiveness of Rope Ladder Crossings
The research conducted between 2000 and 2010 on four roads in Queensland, Australia (Weston et al. 2011) shows the effectiveness of rope bridge crossings. In the study, seven rope bridges are used and they recorded 5 mammal species crossing the bridge in the wild. Also, in the region of rope bridges, no creatures were discovered dead on roads.
