Similar impacts, similar solutions? The effect of transport infrastructure on outdoor recreation and wildlife

There is a striking similarity in how ecological and recreational landscape values are affected by transport infrastructure. Roads and railways form barriers to both wildlife and human movements across the infrastructure corridors. Further, they occupy an increasing area of land, they affect health and decrease the quality of life due to
pollution and disturbances, and they cause injuries or death in traffic accidents. Despite these similarities, impacts on wildlife and humans are rarely addressed with an integrated approach in the current infrastructure planning practice. Ecological and social sciences use different methods and standards for environmental impact assessment and employ different preventive and mitigation measures. Here, we illustrate the resemblance between recreational and ecological responses to infrastructure, and the options for joint mitigation, with three examples: i) the similar response to traffic noise in breeding birds and in people during outdoor recreation, ii) the similarity in movement patterns of wildlife and people in the vicinity of roads, and its implication on barrier effects and landscape fragmentation, and iii) the combined
use of passages such as viaducts and ecoducts. Our overview highlights the common interests between social and ecological nature conservation. We stress that coordinated treatment of social and ecological effects may reveal common performance targets, facilitate the development of practical guidelines, and improve the design of mitigation measures. Our overview may strengthen the political support for integrating recreational and ecological landscape values in infrastructure planning.