RoadKill 2001 News

April 24, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
This week is our last week monitoring for roadkill and finally the warm weather has arrived. Moose are starting to move in the northern parts of NH and ME. Deer have had a tough winter and many are weak from not getting enough food (snow is still deep in the northern woods) and the bears are out and about finding the bird food in the bird feeders a tasty treat.

I saw the first snake today and I am sure they too will be found on the the roadkill tally sheet this week. NH students are now on vacation so last week was the end for many NH participants. I will be posting more information on various creatures soon. Please send any comments about the project to Dr. Splatt or Paul Colombo

April 15, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
The temperatures are starting to get in the 50 degree range in New England and the animals are moving more and more searching for much need food. The lakes and ponds are still frozen in central and northern New England and it looks like turtles and frogs are saved from one more week of bone and shell crushing wheels.

A diversity of animals should start to appear on your roadkill reports. Woodchucks and muskrats are now freed of the ice and snow and are showing up flattened on the roads. No reports of turkeys yets but once again they are showing up on the sides of the roads eating and pecking away at the once buried acorns. The animals are just as happy seeing the snow disappear as humans. It is time for warm weather!
Dr. Splatt

April 9, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
The warm temperatures in New England are finally getting here. The animals are starting to move to find food and mates. The bears are waking up are are now starting to find that bird feeders have food to ward off their hunger. NH Fish and Game is now warning to take down all the bird feeders otherwise a bear may be scratching around your house. The deer have had tough winter and it has been reported that many herds are weak from lack of food. Snow in the northern New England area is over 4 feet high. NH Fish and Game also have reported an abundance of coyotes and of course the coyote is having a feast on the deer.

You may start to see a variety of roadkill species as the temperatures warm the surrounding area. Squirrels, skunks and raccoons are always seen at this time dead on the road but the beaver is becoming another target for the motorists that are in a hurry to go to and from work. Why are the beavers? It is during this time that the 2 year old beavers are being kicked out of their homes and are told to go it alone. 90% of the beavers found dead on the roads are 2 year old beavers as they are the ones searching to build new homes and find a mate. So slow down on the roads that travel through wetlands and hopefully you will never have to experience hitting an animal with your car. Dr. Splatt

April 1 , 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
Week 5 is now underway and the clocks are now set one hour ahead. What will happen this week: more or less roadkills? Will Daylight Savings time make a difference? Or could it be the progressive warm temperatures? These questions may be answered this week and with any hope the snow will start to melt in NH. It has been noted that the deer herd is literally weak from hunger and the coyotes are having a field day! Dog owners should keep their dogs on a leash as if they are found chasing deer then it means instant death from a Fish and Game official. It also means $1000 fine if the dead animal can be traced to their owner.
Dr. Splatt

March 26, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
Week 4 is now underway and maybe after this week the weather in New England may be warming up! Snow is still deep in the woods and in fact many say that some areas in New England may have snow into the month of May. This week is a week of asking the students if there will be more or less roadkill this or next week? It was 5 years ago when one of my students thought of a hypothesis which has led many to think about. Will daylight savings time (Yes, we have to set the clocks ahead) make any difference in roadkill counts? Animals do not have watches on their paws and travel at distinct time periods. Daylight saving time means there will be more cars on the road an hour later in the morning. Will there be more or less roadkills in Week 5 than week 4? Results of the past data from Derry area will be posted next week. What do you think? Dr. Splatt

March 20, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
It seems weekly snowstorms in New England may make the snow on the ground last longer than predicted. It is tough on the animals as much of their food supply is covered. Walking on the soft snow may cause harm to many animals such as deer and moose as they find the roads an easy way to get around from place to place. This is unfortunate as they may become part of the roadkill project if a motor vehicle is driving too fast. Data is now being logged on by a few participants and once again early roadkills are primarily skunks, gray squirrels and a few raccoons.

Daylight savings time is approaching so the question always arises: Will there be more roadkill before or after daylight savings time? Other questions always bear watching: Does a Full Moon mean more roadkill than a New Moon? Do roads with speed limits under 35mph have more roadkills than roads with speed limits over 35mph? These questions and more may all be answered as this project continues. Dr. Splatt

March 9, 2001
Dr. Splatt's ten reasons why you should not pick up roadkill!

March 2, 2001
Hi Roadkill Fans!
We are off and running and hope you all enjoy the project. The Roadkill project has a new face as we have moved from Simmons to EduTel. Paul Colombo and I hope you like the new "look" and my classes will be looking forward to some new data.

I will have over 100 students monitoring the roads in the Derry, New Hampshire vicinity starting this Monday. We have over 2 feet of snow in the woods and the temperatures are cold (0-25 degrees Fahrenheit). We are hoping for no roadkill but unfortunately motor vehicles just do not go slow enough to avoid the poor "roadents".

We hope you stop by the web site from time to time and if you do not join the project this year there is always another year to think about.

How do I join? Register and read the roadkill protocol.

Get your students to keep an eye on a particular road they are traveling on to and from school. Have the students keep track of the animals killed on the road and send in your data once a week. Students should have an idea of how many miles they are monitoring as this data is also important. If you have any questions feel free to email me.    Dr. Splatt   (drsplatt@attbi.com)

March 1, 2001
The web site goes live! We hope you enjoy the project and take the time to read through some of the various steps that we went through to get this web site up and operational.

February 26-28, 2001
Protocol, Data Entry, Web Resources and Lessons & Activities levels rounded out and readied for mounting.

February 22-25, 2001
RoadKill database software programmed and tested. Wow ... gald that part is finished!   

February 14, 2001
Auto-responder email scripts written for project registration forms as well as link submittal forms.

February 4-7, 2001
RoadKill Post Office built. A few sample graphics mounted to the server for testing this feature.

February 3, 2001
All web page templates built and tested with various web browsers. Netscape 'glitch' and older browser limitations discovered. Browser detect/redirect script written for home page.

January 27, 2001
First draft of the home page and image mapping completed. The web site begins to take shape!