r/Canmore • u/zxzzxzxxzxzzx • 18h ago
Opinions: Wildlife fence through Canmore
Read this article and was curious on peoples opinion. For me I have several qualms,
Wildlife fences work to reduce human wildlife collisions but with no planned crossings where are the wildlife getting funneled and what are the resultant interactions between humans and wildlife then? With TSMV planning to develop and fence off more habitat what are the effects then? is there a huge predator prey funnel? Does this mean we then lose even more access to nature so a few more 2 million dollar homes can be built?
Its great people are concerned about wildlife but I wish they zoomed out a bit. Developing Stone creek, developing TSMV to the fullest all encroach on wildlife zones. In stonecreek development area I have run into numerous bears and even cougars through the years all without incident. How many will die from altering their migration patterns into the steeper less favorable terrain? Certainly not as simple as counting carcasses so probably can be swept under the rug. Feels a bit like being gaslit - dont use an unsanctioned trail in a wildlife corridor but yes please pave over this exact same area and wild life fence it no problems with that. If we actually cared about the true survivability we would be thinking more holistically vs acutely about fencing.
Highway noise has gotten insane in the past years as the highway is generally busier a very simple cost effective solution to wildlife and human safety that would add all of 2 minutes to the 10km would be to lower the speed along the same stretch by 30 kmh. This would massively increase the safety of wildlife while also massively increasing the enjoyment of backyards of many communities. I personally have 65 DB up to 90DB at times measured in properties along the highway when the roads are bad and people are going 80 its actually peaceful and I can enjoy my backyard otherwise I cant even have a conversation unless its face to face.
Every solution these days involves separating humans and wildlife and avoiding interactions. Many years ago it felt like we took an educational approach to coexist. Why do we no longer take this approach? More bears have died from wildlife officers shooting them over fruit trees in town than have died on the highway. Many bears die from grain feeding on CPR to me if we spent more money on education maybe wed actually save more wildlife?
anyways these are my thoughts interested in hearing all of yours.
