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Elk Valley community cares about wildlife
Elk Valley community members gathered last week during three different wildlife and road safety events.
On Monday, community members met for Wildsight’s Wild Ideas event. Here they heard from Beth Millions, the local project coordinator for RoadWatchBC, about the growing issue of wildlife on our highways. Discussions from concerned citizens followed, and the consensus was clear: community needs to take action.
One way that people can help is by getting involved with the RoadWatchBC program, where they can either use a free mobile app or an online mapping tool to report wildlife sightings and help add to the body of knowledge that exists for road ecology in this area, Millions said. This kind of data is essential in finding wildlife hotspots that are ideal for a highway crossing structure.
On Tuesday, several community members met to discuss their concerns regarding road safety and wildlife at a Citizen Science Café at the Valley Social Club. Many expressed their desires to see underpasses and overpasses used in the Elk Valley as opposed to the current Wildlife Detection Systems.
On Thursday, Wildsight screened ‘Wildways: Corridors of Life’ to a packed house at Fernie’s The Art Station.
Viewers saw how cutting apart the landscape with highways threatens wildlife survival and affects the ecosystem as a whole. One organization trying to fix this is the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) that aims to connect and protect habitat along the mountain ecosystem from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon Territory.
A discussion followed the movie, and again participants expressed a desire to get involved with such programs as the Y2Y and RoadWatchBC that aim to increase wildlife connectivity.
“Seeing this kind of interest and active participation from the people in the Elk Valley is really inspiring,” said Millions, RoadWatchBC Local Project Coordinator. “It shows that the people here care about wildlife and are intent to make a difference. It is really humbling to get to work with the people in this valley and be part of this project with them.”
To learn more or become involved visit www.roadwatchbc.ca or email [email protected].
Lead image: Elk graze alongside busy Highway 3. Photo submitted
Submitted
