Banff National Park of Canada

Park Management

Trans-Canada Highway Twinning

The Banff Wildlife Crossings Project Report, 2002

ON GOING PROJECTS

Road-Related Mortality

Since 1997, wildlife road-kill data are being collected in the mountain national parks of Banff, Kootenay and Yoho and adjacent Kananaskis Country (Alberta province). Highway maintenance and park staff, flag the locations of road-kills. The geographic coordinates of each road-kill site are obtained with a global positioning system (GPS) unit. More than 600 highly accurate road-kill locations ,less than 3 m. error, have been collected to date.

Grizzly bear photographed on overpass
© Tony Clevenger

Monitoring of Wildlife Crossing Structures

All 24 wildlife crossing structures have been monitored regularly, every three days, year-round since November 1996. Wildlife use is recorded by identifying tracks at 2-m wide, raked track-pads. At the wildlife overpasses, infrared-operated 35mm camera systems are used in addition to the raked track pads to detect animal passage.

Raking track pad at underpass
© Tony Clevenger
 

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