Park Management
Table of Contents | Introduction | Current Twinning | Highway Fencing & Wildlife Crossings
Update: January 2012
Printable Version (PDF, 2.8 MB)
Construction Update
- Lane construction between Lake Louise and the British Columbia border ended for the season in December, to resume in the spring of 2012. On-going road detours will remain in place throughout the winter so please be aware of reduced speeds in the area.
- Final landscaping, including 14km of highway fencing, between Castle Junction and Lake Louise will be largely completed by December 2011. Bridge repairs to the Castle Junction Interchange will also be completed this year.
- A pedestrian overpass from Harry’s Hill residences on the north side of the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) across to the hamlet of Lake Louise is now in place but access ramps will not be completed until the spring of 2012.
Wildlife Crossing Monitoring
Since monitoring began in 1996, 11 species of large mammals - including bears, elk and cougar - have used crossing structures more than 200,000 time. Combined with fencing, crossing structures have helped reduce wildlife - vehicle collisions by more than 80%. Currently there are 41 crossing structures, of which 36 are monitored year round with remote video cameras. These cameras allow researchers a rare glimpse into wildlife movement.
Cow and bull moose spotted using a wildlife underpass as
first snow collects © highwaywilding.org
Did you know?
- Wildlife crossing structures are designed to look and feel like a natural part of the park. This has been the case at the Redearth Overpass where a family of hoary marmots once set-up a colony.
- Even beavers are using Banff National Park’s wildlife crossing structures. Canada’s national animal has been spotted using the Redearth Creek Underpass to safely cross from one side of the highway to the other.
In the Swim of Things
A recent inventory of aquatic culverts in our mountain national parks showed that fish movement has not been optimal in some areas where their natural habitat has been altered by roads. As the Trans-Canada Twinning Project moves further west, we have been taking the time to fix some of the poorly constructed culverts that flow under the highway.
A major aquatic project was completed this year and a new human-made stream promises to be a significant improvement over an old, impassable culvert. This new stream has been contoured to provide ‘rest stops’ and a gentler slope to help fish move upstream from the Bow River to new spawning or rearing habitat.
New human-made stream which will replace the
“man-hole” culvert © Parks Canada
Adaptive Management
A new initiative is in place at highway bridges that cross waterways where harlequin ducks are known to reside. Green netting, which acts as a visual barrier, was installed onto existing highway fencing to encourage the ducks to fly under the bridges rather through the highway right of way.
Research is now underway to test an “electromat” as a deterrent to keep wildlife from using unfenced highways and road junctions to get onto the Trans-Canada Highway. Stay tuned as we test the effectiveness of this emerging tool.
This electric equivalent to a Texas Gate delivers a discouraging
but not harmful electric jolt to the paws or hooves that step on it © Parks Canada
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