By Cathy Ellis - Rocky Mountain Outlook - July 03, 2008

Photo radar is being investigated as a way of

slowing down traffic along a busy highway in Kootenay National Park that has just claimed the life of a second grizzly bear in two weeks.

The news follows the death of a 200-pound female grizzly bear that was hit by a semi-truck on Highway 93 South near Hector Gorge on June 26 - just 10 days after a motorcycle struck and killed a male grizzly bear on the same road.

Parks Canada officials say they are concerned about human safety and wildlife mortality given the increasing traffic, and high speeds, along the 106-km stretch of road between Castle Mountain and Radium Hot Springs.

They are in the process of reviewing a report they commissioned that recommends fencing high priority zones to keep animals off the busy two-lane parkway, in combination with underpasses and overpasses to provide habitat connectivity.

But, officials say, that comes with ever escalating price tags already estimated to be in the millions.

“This is a long-term solution and the cost and design of these things means none of it will happen soon, but we will be looking into the feasibility of these things over the next year,” said Bill Hunt, chief park warden for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.

“Our short-term efforts must focus on speed reduction through education, awareness and enforcement. This may include signage, advertising through media, increased police presence when and where possible, and perhaps even assessing the use of tools such as photo-radar.”

The number of wildlife-vehicle collisions on Highway 93 South is rising each year, primarily due to growing populations in Alberta and B.C. that have led to a substantial increase in annual traffic, rising from 700,000 vehicles in 1997 to 900,000 in 2006.

Parks statistics show there were 444 wildlife-vehicle collisions in that same time, mainly involving whitetail deer, moose, bighorn sheep, mule deer and black bear. In addition, sensitive species like grizzly bears, lynx and mountain goats have been killed.

Over the past 33 years, 1,531 observations of wildlife mortality within 500 metres of Highway 93 South and nearby portions of Banff National Park have been reported to Parks.

It is anticipated the number of animal deaths will continue to climb along the parkway, as more and more wildlife are attracted to the park’s renewed vegetation following the massive 2003 forest fires.

Defenders of Wildlife Canada say something must be done in the short-term to slow down speeding traffic, including a broader public education program and strict enforcement and penalties.

“It points to the increasingly threatening problem on that section of roadway, with what I can only call a gang of hoodlums racing from Calgary to cabins in B.C., who have complete disregard for the nature of the national parks and for the law,” said Jim Pissot, the group’s executive director.

“It’s probably going to take a family of people being killed by someone racing past them, or running into a van head-on, before we really do start to pay attention. In the meantime, I fear there will be an increasing problem of hitting wildlife.”

One of Parks Canada’s stated goals is to reduce the death of large mammals killed by vehicles. To that end, the agency commissioned a report to look at ways to influence both driver behaviour and animal movements on Highway 93 South.

The report, completed by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, says wildlife fencing, in combination with underpasses and overpasses, and animal detection systems with fencing are the best ways to substantially reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions.

That said, the report also says public education, as well as experimenting with large boulders in the right-of-way, and an advisory reduced speed limit may also be measures worth exploring as secondary measures to reduce collisions.

Parks Canada says speed does not appear to have been a factor in the recent deaths of the two grizzly bears, but in general it is a problem. Average speeds have been clocked at 110-km/h in a 90-km/h zone, with many driving at even higher speeds.

“If you travel at 110-km/h versus the posted speed, you save yourself 12 minutes. Given that we’ve lost two grizzly bears, is that really worth it?” said Hunt.

“A lot of the traffic is Calgarians and Bow Valley residents heading to recreation property in the Columbia Valley and we just ask that they do their part in driving cautiously and slowing down.”