![]() “As the city spreads out and the highway gets busier and busier a lot of animals are killed through no fault of their own,” he said. Wesley First Nation Chief Clifford Poucette highlighted that migration paths have long been used by animals and are important for them. ![]() However, the popularity of the area for visitors also sees about 30,000 cars travel the busy highway daily, Alberta Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney said. The area regularly sees deer, elk, bighorn sheep, cougars, black bears, grizzly bears and wolves travel the region. “Total and complete human-wildlife co-existence is integral here to our way of life in the mountains,” Rosin said.Īs part of the 3,200-kilometre east-west wildlife connector that covers the Y2Y region, the Bow Valley is a critical part of connectivity for animal movement. While the incident brought more attention, the risk of vehicle-wildlife collisions is a daily risk in the valley. A petition launched by Canmore resident Cinthia Nemoto garnered 20,000 signatures and brought more community attention to the need for an overpass. … This is a landscape that’s very busy and wildlife need all the help they can get,” said Adam Linnard, the Alberta program manager for Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative.ĭiscussion for the overpass has been in the works for about a decade, and will help in conservation efforts such as grizzly bear population recovery and add safety by reducing vehicle-wildlife collisions.īanff-Kananaskis MLA Miranda Rosin said a key moment in pushing the overpass forward was an April 2019 collision with a semi-truck that left seven elk dead. “We’re really happy, we’re really optimistic and really hopeful to see this known solution to this known problem. The expected completion date will be fall 2023 and aim to drastically reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions and cost an expected $17.5 million. The steel arch wildlife overpass will be built to the east of Lac Des Arcs and be the first in Alberta not constructed in Banff National Park. LAC DES ARCS – Ground has officially been broken on the long-awaited wildlife overpass on a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway known to be a hotspot for collisions between vehicles and animals.
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