Banff National Park of Canada
Park Management
Trans-Canada Highway Twinning Project: Phase IIIB
Environmental Screening Report - Report Summary
Recommendations
Recommendations for mitigation of the environmental impacts of the Project
were related primarily to wildlife habitat connectivity and mortality. Mitigations
for other environmental resources focus on the importance of ensuring that
environmental protection measures are incorporated in Project construction,
operations and maintenance, which can be addressed by the development of Environmental
Management Plans.
Wildlife
Substantial mitigation of potential environmental effects has been incorporated
in the planning and design of Phase IIIB. Where possible, special habitats
have been avoided, the project footprint has been minimized, and substantial
efforts to maintain connectivity for wildlife have been proposed. Key mitigation
recommendations to minimize impacts of Phase IIIB and to compensate for residual
impacts include:
- reduce construction disturbance to harlequin ducks by staging construction
within sight of concentration areas on the Bow River to one area at a time
and by placing time constraints on construction activity during the nesting
period (prior to late July, no work after 18:00);
- changing the Segment B construction plan to avoid the creation of a fence
end at the Bow River Bridge east of Lake Louise to reduce likely highway
mortality in this high-use wildlife crossing area;
- the construction of an extended fence around the hamlet of Lake Louise
in conjunction with the construction of Segment B to reduce the risk of
adverse human wildlife interactions, particularly bears, in and around the
hamlet;
- retrofit two crossing structures and build an additional crossing structure
on Phases I, II, and IIIA as compensation for residual impacts related to
construction of Phase IIIB, and
- the construction of a pedestrian crossing structure east of Lake
Louise should be reexamined from the view of its effect on
human use within key wildlife habitat northeast of the hamlet.
There remain noteworthy areas of uncertainty regarding the effects of mitigation,
particularly concerning the effects of better-placed and better-designed crossing
structures on connectivity, both demographic and genetic. The long-term cumulative
effects of the project (beyond 2020) hinge on the degree to which connectivity
can be restored across the TCH. Monitoring the effects of the current project
as well as continued monitoring of previous phases in the context of species-specific
wildlife population dynamics is necessary to determine the long term effects
of the project on mortality and connectivity and ultimately, on the ecological
integrity of Banff National Park.
Environmental Management
Plans
Recommendations now revolve primarily on encapsulating more specific mitigations
into Project implementation. Although general and conceptual mitigations are
important, detailed application of environmental protection practices is crucial.
Environmental management plans should be developed to ensure on-site environmental
protection. The plans should be developed to address both construction and
operations stages of the project. Areas to be considered range from work camp
environmental management and construction surveillance protocols to detailed
reclamation plans. Most of the construction plans should be developed in consultation
with construction contractors who will bear the primary responsibility for
their implementation. Operations environmental management plans should be
developed to guide long-term maintenance and operational practices for the
highway, and will include existing plans such as salt management, as well
as additional topics such as invasive weed species control and wildlife mitigation
structure maintenance.