Roads are part of everyday life, allowing people and goods to move efficiently between communities.  For humans, roads can be a connecting force. For wildlife, they can be a disconnecting force that prevents them from reaching important habitat. For grizzly bears, connectivity is especially important; they cover vast areas in their search for food and mates. Roads and other infrastructure create serious obstacles for the grizzlies.

In the Y2Y region, total linear disturbances (which includes roads, power lines, and seismic lines) add up to more than 435,000 miles (700,000 kilometers) – enough to circle the world 17 times. Many of the major transportation routes run east-west. This poses particular problems to the predominantly north-south movement of wildlife.  The roads aren't as problematic as the traffic. Studies show that grizzly bears don’t venture across roads when traffic is heavy; they wait until night time when the numbers of cars lessen. However, there is still traffic, and wildlife crossing roads during the night are still in danger of getting hit.

Between 6,000 and 9,000 vehicles a day travel Highway 3 through Y2Y’s Crown of the Continent and Cabinet-Purcell Priority Areas. No female grizzly bears have been documented crossing this busy roadway. This is in contrast to Highway 2, which runs through the Montana portion of the Crown of the Continent. With a traffic volume of approximately 2,000 vehicles a day, a limited number of grizzly bears have crossed this highway.

Given that roads are here to stay, it’s important to find workable solutions – which we and our partners are doing as we develop and implement innovative solutions. In Banff National Park, for example, Y2Y is working with Parks Canada and the Western Transportation Institute to increase public understanding of the effectiveness of wildlife over and underpasses along the Trans Canada highway. We are also connecting with scientists and transportation planners in British Columbia and Alberta to find appropriate mitigation measures along Highway 3.

In January, 2008 the At a Crossroads: Highway 3 Transportation Corridor Workshop convened in Fernie, BC. The workshop focused on the Crowsnest Pass transportation corridor, and was designed to understand efforts to minimize and mitigate adverse road and rail impacts on wildlife populations and ecological connectivity, and to develop a better understanding of the various ongoing wildlife research projects in the region. An agreement was reached by workshop participants to create a report that synthesizes existing research to identify key movement zones, rank the zones for conservation action and identify the most feasible transportation mitigation options and recommendations for each site. Click here to view report.

In the US, Y2Y recently worked with the Montana Department of Transportation, American Wildlands, Keystone Conservation, and local landowners Jay and Sandy Whitney to fund a wildlife underpass along Secondary Highway 206 just west of Glacier National Park.

Y2Y will continue to study and take action on this important issue.