Connected Forest Canopy: a Bridge for Animals to Cross Safely

Using the deep knowledge of forests and their inhabitants from traditional communities, artificial bridges have been constructed to connect the forest canopy over a road that spans Brazil’s Amazonas and Roraima states. These bridges allow arboreal mammals to safely cross the road from above..

“Almost 30 years ago, the Waimiri-Atroari [Indigenous people] wanted to establish artificial canopy bridges on this road,” explains biologist Fernanda Abra, founder of the Reconecta Project. “And their efforts are so great and powerful that, thanks to the pruning on the BR-174 [road] made with the National Department of Transport Infrastructure and the Federal University of Amazonas, there are almost 30 natural forest connection bridges above the road.”

The Reconecta Project studies the best wildlife crossing models for small and large animals that spend most of their lives on treetops, isolated in habitats fragmented by roads. With the collaboration of three Indigenous leaders, Abra installed 30 artificial bridges – 15 pairs of different models, seven meters high – on a 125 km stretch of the BR-14. This road cuts through part of the 2.3 million hectares of land inhabited by the Waimiri-Atroari Indigenous people, who have one of the best-preserved areas in the biome thanks to the exemplary governance of their territory. Each bridge is equipped with two camera traps – one facing the crossing and one facing the forest – to record the usage that arboreal mammals make of them. After ten months of monitoring, it has been documented that the golden-handed tamarin, the common squirrel monkey, the kinkajou, the mouse opossum, and the opossum were among the species that used the bridges. Reconecta intends to test its technology in other states and abroad. “Forty per cent of Brazilian primates are threatened! So, mitigating the impact of roads on this group is like closing the drain on the extinction of these animals.”