| Exclusion fencing can reduce the number of large and medium-sized mammals within a highway corridor, but can also prevent animals from escaping from the corridor if they enter in other ways, such as at ungated access roads. Earthen escape ramps leading from the highway to the top of the exclusion fence have been proposed as a possible solution by allowing animals to "jump out" of the highway corridor. We assessed wildlife response at 4 jump-out ramps installed as part of a 2.5 mile wildlife exclusion fence project near San Luis Obispo, California. We deployed one automatic camera per site and monitored continually from July 2012 through July 2014 (totaling 2,864 survey nights). We documented 431 visitation events by large and medium-sized mammals, with Mule Deer and Gray Fox being the most frequently-detected species. Mule Deer jumped off of the ramps on several occasions, but these events were comparatively rare. Deer that did not jump out still tended to return to the ramps repeatedly. Gray Fox had a higher proportion of events resulting in jumping off the ramp. We documented several instances of other species jumping off the ramps. Mule Deer, Black Bear or Cougar never used the jump-outs to enter the highway corridor. Our results suggest that jump-out ramps have the potential to reduce the abundance of large and medium-sized mammals within a fenced highway corridor. |