CROWSNEST PASS- It’s a pristine landscape along Highway 3 in the Crowsnest Pass, but Emerald Lake is also one of the most deadly crossings in the area for wildlife.
Rob Schaufele is with Road Watch, a group dedicated to reducing wildlife fatalities on highways. Schaufele says the area near Emerald Lake is specifically deadly to bighorn sheep.
“There’s a high rate of sheep mortality due to wildlife vehicle collisions.”
Schaufele says Alberta Transportation is trying to reduce the devastating number by installing specialized fencing.
“It runs parallel to the highway; it directs wildlife to cross at an area that is safe so here the fencing will follow the highway and funnel them right underneath the existing vehicle overpass between Emerald Lake and Crowsnest Lake.”
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There’s about 120 bighorn sheep in the Emerald Lake area. In 2013, roughly ten per cent of them were wiped out by collisions involving vehicles and wildlife.
“In the last couple of years, we have had about 20 sheep killed right here at this spot,” adds Schaufele.
A number of organizations came together to gather data, highlighting areas in need of wildlife protection. Schaufele says typically the barriers are only used within national or provincial parks.
“The fencing is quite unique to Alberta,” says Schaufele. “This would be one of the first projects where wildlife mitigation is going to happen in the province outside of parks.”
Alberta Transportation is already looking to improve another local hot spot, which would most likely use a wildlife underpass.
“Out near Rock Creek, which is east of Crowsnest Pass, and it’s a really important multi-species wildlife corridor; anything from grizzly bear to fox, wolves and moose and a lot of animals get killed every year as well,” adds Schaufele.
Construction on the fence should begin in the spring of 2016.
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