Park Management
Table of Contents | Introduction | Current Twinning | Highway Fencing & Wildlife Crossings
Highway Fencing and Wildlife Crossings
The Wildlife and Transportation Monitoring and Research in the Rocky Mountain Parks Project
A Unique Collaboration
Over the next five years, the Wildlife and Transportation Monitoring and Research in the Rocky Mountain Parks Project will be monitoring wildlife mitigation measures in Banff National Park in order to assess the success of continued twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway, and other roadway mitigation initiatives in reducing animal-vehicle collisions and improving wildlife connectivity.
This new initiative will create and implement a plan to guide wildlife monitoring and research associated with the ongoing Trans-Canada Highway twinning project in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park (from Castle Junction to the British Columbia-Alberta border). Some of the project’s goals and objectives include reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions and improving habitat connectivity and genetic interchange for key species such as bears, wolves, deer and elk.
More complex questions regarding the effects of the highway twinning project on wildlife populations will be investigated, both at local and regional scales. This project will begin immediately as this allows continuity with previous monitoring and data collection. The value of the continuous monitoring data collected to date is internationally recognized.
Parks Canada will be contributing $1 million in support of this unique collaboration between The Miistakis Institute for the Rockies (University of Calgary), The Western Transportation Institute (Montana State University), the Wilburforce Foundation, The Woodcock Foundation and Parks Canada.
Leading the Way: The Banff Wildlife Crossings Project
In November 1996, a research project aimed at studying road impacts on wildlife began in Banff National Park. The research examined impacts on wildlife in terms of road mortality, wildlife movements, and habitat connectivity in the Bow Valley along the Trans-Canada Highway corridor in Banff National Park, approximately 100 km west of Calgary, Alberta. The Banff Wildlife Crossings Project provided measurable data on the value of different crossing structures in maintaining or restoring healthy wildlife populations.
Monitoring of twenty-four wildlife crossings (22 underpasses and 2 overpasses) between the park’s east gate and Castle Junction and a 3-year Bear DNA study were completed in late 2008. Research results guided the design and location of 18 new wildlife crossings that are being built in Banff National Park between Castle Junction and the British Columbia border.
Contact information:
Kris McCleary
Parks Canada Science Manager
Tel: 250.347.6170
E-mail: Kris.McCleary@pc.gc.ca
Study area and roads used to research the effects of roads on wildlife in the Central Canadian Rocky Mountains
© Parks Canada / Scott Jevons / GEOWORKS
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