How can we protect vulnerable wildlife from the roads ?
It is always sad to see dead animals at the side of the roads, obviouly hit by a car and no chance of survival. So I was really pleased to hear about the Banff Wildlife Crossing Project from a friend who is visiting Canada very soon. It is a brilliant and successful idea of creating over passes and under passes on the Trans Canadian Hgihway for the wildlife to safely cross from one side to the other.
Banff is located in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, an amazing area of natural beauty, lakes, mountains, glaciers, forests, skiing, natural springs. Banff is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has given conservation inspiration to the world by creating these corridors for animals.
The bridges and tunnels have become grassy oases, with trees and wildflowers taking root all in an effort to reduce the wildlife collisions with cars and lorries. From the road they look like just ordinary bridges but when seen from above we can see they are beautiful green passageways now used by an enormous variety of animals. First the highway was fenced, then the overpasses and under passes were constructed. It took a while for the animals to get used to using the passages but now there are grizzly bears, elk, foxes, marmots, toads, wolves, lynx, snakes, beavers, toads, black bears, mountain lions all crossing the highway safely.
Many people were sceptical and said the project was a waste of money but it is a worldwide success story reducing collisions by 80%. And for elk there is now zero mortality. Also the animals are no longer isolated at either side of the highway, a positive result for breeding.
The overpasses and underpasses are exceptional and rare and found nowhere else in the world say the experts. However, many other countries are interested in putting in place similar crossings – Argentina, China, Mongolia -, are sending scientists to Banff to learn how to adapt their situation and so reduce the impact of highways on biodiversity. They are also looking into putting passes over railroads where many animal collisions occur.
Banff boasts 44 crossings over 82 km of highway and with 160 000 animal crossings counted through the under and over passes such a wonderful, visionary project
Banff has showed the world, by long term investment and foresight, how to protect vulnerable wildlife in areas of rapid human development, bravo Banff and Canada.