BEAR DEATH TRAPS

DEATH TRAP

THE PIGEON RIVER GORGE SECTION OF INTERSTATE 40 IS ONE OF THE DEADLIEST STRETCHES OF INTERSTATE IN THE COUNTRY. A NEW PROJECT HOPES TO MAKE IT SAFER FOR HUMANS AND WILDLIFE.

BY WILL HARLAN

THE WIGGLES. THAT’S WHAT MY

five-year-old son called the sinuous stretch of Interstate 40 near the North Carolina-Tennessee border when we first drove it together. The highway snakes back and forth through a narrow, steep-walled gorge, roughly following the Pigeon River on the border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Rock faces rise sharply from the road, and landslides are common. Tractor trailers often overturn. Two long tunnels make it even more treacherous. It’s one of the deadliest 28 miles in the country—for humans and wildlife.

My toddler giggled as our car careened back and forth through the gorge, but my wife was tense. A cold rain began to fall, and I white-knuckled the wheel as semi-trailers rumbled past.

“What’s that?” my son asked. He pointed to a black blob of fur on the shoulder. I didn’t say anything, but he already knew: it was a dead bear cub. Bears, deer, elk, and other wildlife have been moving across this gorge for millennia. It wasn’t until 1968 that a four-lane interstate with walls and barriers was built through it, interrupting a major wildlife corridor for the eastern U.S. Construction crews cut the road through the mountainside and sheared steep rock walls along the route. Animals that successfully make it across concrete dividers and four lanes of interstate can find themselves pinched between traffic and impassable cliffs on a very narrow shoulder.

Bear fatalities have quadrupled

Blood trickled out from the carcass onto the wet road.

Interstate 40 stretches 2,560 miles from California to the Eastern coast, but the Pigeon River Gorge section has more accidents and fatalities than any other section.

More than 26,000 vehicles pass through the gorge each day, and that number continues to rise. This stretch of interstate is adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited and the second most popular park in the country.

An estimated 1,900 black bears call the park home. The Smokies are the largest black bear refuge in Appalachia.

But bears and other animals don’t recognize park boundaries. They travel in search of food, shelter, and mates. To do this, that means they have to cross roads like interstate 40. More than 90 percent of male black bears and 50 percent of female black bears travel outside the park boundary each year, including through the Pigeon River Gorge.

MORE THAN 26,000 VEHICLES PASS THROUGH THE GORGE EACH DAY, AND THAT NUMBER CONTINUES TO RISE. THIS STRETCH OF INTERSTATE IS ADJACENT TO GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, THE MOST VISITED AND THE SECOND MOST POPULAR PARK IN THE COUNTRY.

since the interstate opened. In 2018 alone, 35 black bears were killed along this stretch of highway. Some biologists estimate as many as 70 bears may be killed here each year, and it’s impossible to count those not reported or those who make it off the interstate only to die later in the forest.

Deer, fox, bobcat, coyote, and recently reintroduced elk are also being killed in increasing numbers trying to cross the interstate.

Those collisions are dangerous for people, too. A bull elk can weigh up to 900 pounds, causing even more damage than a bear. Vehicle collisions with wildlife cost over $12 billion a year and take hundreds of lives in the U.S.

Fortunately, a new coalition is proposing an innovative solution: bridges, tunnels, and other crossings for bears and other wildlife. Safe Passage: the I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Wildlife Crossing Project—hopes to build wildlife overpasses and underpasses across the interstate to reduce collisions and make it safer for animals and people to travel through the Pigeon River Gorge.

The timing is key: North Carolina Department of Transportation is planning to replace at least four bridges in the Pigeon River Gorge over the next five years. This presents a timely and critical opportunity to integrate wildlife crossings and fencing into the bridge designs.

Safe Passage has already collected two years’ worth of data in the gorge. They have used wildlife cameras to document animals traversing the gorge. The data could help inform decisions around the most important locations for possible wildlife overpasses or underpasses.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation and Tennessee Department of Transportation are working closely with the Safe Passage coalition, which consists of 20 partner organizations from across the region, including National Parks Conservation Association, Wildlands Network, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Smoky Mountains Association, The Conservation Fund, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation. "Reconnecting this landscape is essential for future generations of humans and wildlife,” says Jeff Hunter, program manager for National Parks Conservation Association and the facilitator for the Safe Passage collaborative. “If you can provide an opportunity for safe passage, over generations, bear and elk and deer will teach their young to use those structures. It will keep the animals out of the road and improve safety for humans and wildlife.”

Wildlife crossings have proven successful in aiding panthers in Florida, jaguars in Mexico, and grizzlies in the Western United States and Canada. In some areas, wildlife overpasses and underpasses have achieved 85 to 95 percent reductions in wildlife mortality, according to a 2017 University of Montana study.

Appalachia is one of the most important corridors in the country for wildlife migration. The network of public lands along the Appalachian spine provides critical connectivity for species to travel between islands of protected lands across the Eastern United States. Providing passages in the Appalachian corridor will become increasingly important as more species migrate due to changing climate and increasing development.

Already, the Safe Passage coalition for the Pigeon River Gorge has attracted broad political support. Everyone wants to protect wildlife and make travel safer for motorists.

But overpasses and underpasses aren’t cheap. An underpass can cost $500,000, and an overpass can cost as much as $10 million. Overpasses and underpasses are usually accompanied by fencing that funnels wildlife toward these crossings, which can cost up to $100,000 per mile.

North Carolina’s Department of Transportation is willing to put wildlife considerations in its bridge replacement designs, but Safe Passage may have to raise a significant chunk of money to cover the cost of fencing.

Investments in wildlife crossings are worth every penny, says Hunter. Wildlife crossings lead to fewer vehicle accidents and healthier, more resilient wildlife populations. “They keep animals safe and people safe. They are a winning solution for everyone.”

APPALACHIA IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CORRIDORS IN THE COUNTRY FOR WILDLIFE MIGRATION. THE NETWORK OF PUBLIC LANDS ALONG THE APPALACHIAN SPINE PROVIDES CRITICAL CONNECTIVITY FOR SPECIES TO TRAVEL BETWEEN ISLANDS OF PROTECTED LANDS ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. PROVIDING PASSAGES IN THE APPALACHIAN CORRIDOR WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT AS MORE SPECIES MIGRATE DUE TO CHANGING CLIMATE AND INCREASING DEVELOPMENT.

Learn more at smokiessafepassage.org.

DISTANCE PERSISTENCE

LAST YEAR JACKY HUNT-BROERSMA, AN AMPUTEE ULTRARUNNER FROM NORTH CAROLINA, SET A 100-MILE RECORD.

BY JARRETT VAN METER

She remembers that it hurt to the touch. Something had grown back over the site of a surgically removed scar tissue buildup on her leg. At first it was simply tender, then a golf ball-sized growth emerged, seemingly overnight, and the insidious discomfort grew to be unbearable. Jacky HuntBroersma scheduled a follow-up visit to see the same doctor who initially told her the pain was merely more scar tissue forming.

“I went in and was like ‘I’m not sure, but I don’t think this is scar tissue any more,’ and he just looked at my leg and went pale,” recalled Hunt-Broersma, 19 years later. “He scheduled me in to see a specialist and scheduled a biopsy.”

Everything moved quickly from there. The biopsy revealed the spot to be Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer, especially since she was only 25 years old at the time. Within a week of the biopsy, her leg was amputated to prevent the cancer from spreading.

That tumultuous week in 2002 would serve as the launchpad for HuntBroersma’s athletic career, one that has seen her complete the six-day, 120-mile TransRockies Run in Colorado and the Naturalist 25K Trail Race in North Carolina. She also recently became the first amputee to run 100 consecutive miles on a treadmill. Her next goal is her biggest yet, the Moab 240 in October. Oh, and she only started running in 2016.

Hunt-Broersma agreed to meet me for a short run in January on what was supposed to be a restful Monday for her, following a combined 40 miles over the two days prior. We met in the Lake Norman State Park visitors center parking lot before setting out on our muddy caper.

Hunt-Broersma grew up in Pretoria, South Africa, and was a competitive swimmer. Despite the endurance and lung capacity she built over years in the pool, she didn’t just avoid running, she despised it.

“I was always the kid who would kind of hide whenever we had any track meets or anything we had to do running-wise,” she said with a chuckle. “I’d be hiding in the bathroom because I hated running so much. I thought running was for crazy people.”

She met her husband, Edwin Broersma, in South Africa. Edwin works in investment banking IT, which led the couple to move to the Netherlands, where the cancer diagnosis and amputation occurred. Jacky works in pharmaceutical marketing, which took the couple from the Netherlands to England, where their two children were

born. Five years ago, it was Edwin’s turn again. The couple moved to Cary, N.C., for his job, and that’s where Jacky began running.

“I had been to America quite a few times for work, but my husband had never been,” she explained. “He got the job offer in Raleigh and we were like ‘Where is that?’ It’s been fun. It’s been a great experience and this is where I started my running.”

As I watched her expertly navigate slippery downhills and technical root systems a few paces in front of me, it was hard to believe she has only been at it for five years. She credits Edwin, also a runner, for introducing her to the sport.

“He just seemed like he SHE SIGNED UP loved it so much and he always felt FOR HER FIRST 5K IN 2016 AND COMPETED good and when ON A WALKING he spoke about it, he spoke with PROSTHETIC, MUCH HEAVIER AND MORE RIGID THAN THE passion,” she FILLAUER OBSIDIAN said. “I was just RUNNING BLADE SHE USES NOW. SHE fascinated, so I WALKED MOST OF wanted to give it a try.” THE RACE, JOGGING ONLY IN SPURTS, BUT LOVED EVERYTHING

She signed ABOUT IT. up for her first 5K in 2016 and competed on a walking prosthetic, much heavier and more rigid than the Fillauer Obsidian running blade she uses now. She walked most of the race, jogging only in spurts, but loved everything about it. The buy-in cost for an amputee runner is steep, with blades often carrying five-figure price tags, but deep down she knew it was a perfect fit.

“It’s not a decision to be taken lightly because my first running blade was $10,000, so it’s one of those things where you’re not like buying a pair of $100 running shoes. It’s $10,000,” HuntBroersma said. “I had to be sure I actually want to do this and not just something that you take up and then decide you don’t want to do it anymore. That’s kind of how we went down the route, and then luckily I fell in love with it.”

With her new equipment she signed up for a cross country 5K, then quickly set her sights on a 10K in Durham. When she went to the packet-pickup table the day before the race, a yearning stirred inside of her. She switched to the half-marathon instead, despite never surpassing six miles on a training run. The next day she finished the race in just over two hours, confidence and appetite for mileage both soaring. Trail running provided a new frontier of challenges, and she dove in despite advisements against using her running blade on the often unforgiving terrain of the woods. “What happens is, especially in the trails we run in Raleigh, they’re all root-y and rocky and there are so many elements where your blade can kind of get stuck under something, so you have to constantly make sure you’re checking,” she explained. “Even anyone that goes on the trail with two legs, you’re constantly checking, making sure you’re not tripping.”

While navigating the switchbacks during her descent from Hope Pass in stage two of the TransRockies, she took a particularly nasty fall. Several other runners rolled her on her back and made her remain supine until she was able to continue. She finished the stage and the race but ultimately switched from a single-plane device to one that is split down the middle into two prongs, which allows more give and adherence to rocks and roots. On her right foot she wears a red Altra Lone Peak shoe. She carries a hydration pack which, along with her fuel, holds duct tape, super glue, and a manual screw for the valve of her blade in the event of any needed mid-run blade maintenance.

When quarantine began back in the spring, Hunt-Broersma, like everyone else, had to adjust her routine to stay active. She had been in training for a 100-mile race that was canceled due to the pandemic, so she put her training to use by registering for the Aravaipa Strong Virtual Race in the 100-mile category. While the record-setting 100mile treadmill run was more forgiving on her equipment, it surpassed her

HUNT-BROERSMA COMPETING AT THE TRANSROCKIES RUN IN COLORADO. PHOTO COURTESY OF JACKY HUNTBROERSMA

previous long run “I KNEW 100 WAS by nearly 40 miles GOING TO BE and was 10 times CHALLENGING, BUT YOU JUST GET longer than her THROUGH IT,” SHE longest treadmill run. With the help SAID. “THE HARDEST WAS AT NIGHT, TWO O’CLOCK IN THE of pizza, music, MORNING. AT ONE and Netflix, she POINT I WAS FALLING ASLEEP BECAUSE THE finished in just MOMENTUM, IT WAS under a day AS IF YOU WERE with a time of DRIVING AND THERE’S MOMENTUM AND 23:38:45, the YOU’RE STARTING TO eleventh-place DOZE OFF.” female and 36th overall out of nearly 500 participants.

“I knew 100 was going to be challenging, but you just get through it,” she said. “The hardest was at night, two o’clock in the morning. At one point I was falling asleep because the momentum, it was as if you were driving and there’s momentum and you’re starting to doze off.” As for our run, we capped our mileage well short of 100. The parking lot, and park as a whole, was mostly empty. Her blade and our shoes were caked in mud. It was an overcast morning on her day off and she had logged more miles in the previous 48 hours than most people do in a month, but her effervescence held. Around her neck she wore a gaiter adorned with the state flag of her adopted home of North Carolina, where her second act began.

“Running’s made me really grateful because every time I put on my blade and I’m out on those trails I’m like, ‘Man, this is amazing that I can actually do these things,’” she said, just before we parted ways. “I’m out here. I can actually put in these miles. It has definitely made me look at the world differently and just appreciate it.”

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