ROAD ECOLOGY: Here are two words that don’t seem to go 
together: road and ecology. But they do. Find out how 
ahead...on Passport to Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

Roads provide convenient travel to work, school and home 
for humans—but not for wildlife.

17—You have habitat loss. And then that physical road can act as a 
barrier to wildlife. It can impact habitat connectivity. Which, then, in 
turn can impact genetic transfer of information between populations, 
and weaken the genetic background for a species.

Laura Zebehazy, program leader for Wildlife Habitat 
Assessment, studies the impacts of roadways on wildlife, 
known as road ecology.

21—Basically, it is where biologists, engineers, landscape architects… 
try to evaluate the impacts that road infrastructure has on wildlife 
habitat connectivity, air pollution, noise pollution, and try to find 
solutions to alleviate those impacts from that type of development.

Endangered ocelots that live in RGV brush country have 
died on SH 100. Recently, TxDOT, in consultation with 
USFWS and TPWD, completed four wildlife underpasses 
along this popular route to South Padre Island.

13—To allow ocelot and any other wildlife in the area to move under 
the road between the Bahia Grande to the south, and the Port of 
Brownsville area up north towards Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife 
Refuge.

With wildlife cameras in place, TxDOT will collect data on 
these solutions and adjust as necessary to save this (and 
other) rare species. 

The Wildlife restoration Program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.





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I’m actually the program leader for Wildlife Habitat Assessment and an understanding of 
road ecology is just one facet of my job. TPWD does not have an official road ecology 
program (I wish they did though!).
I’d rather this say “in consultation with USFWS and TPWD” or something to that effect. 
To expand on the explanation I gave you in person, TxDOT was made to do this by 
USFWS so they were begrudgingly working with us. But I understand and support the 
need to put a positive spin on this story. 
TxDOT
Suggestion: rare