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Calgary Herald

Bow Valley wildlife still benefiting from 2002 Kananaskis G8 summit

Twenty-three years after world leaders gathered in Kananaskis, cougars, bears and deer are traversing the Bow Valley more safely thanks to a legacy of that G8 meeting. Article content To honour the G8's host community, the federal government devoted $5 million administered by Parks Canada to enhance wilderness conservation, with $2 million of that going to hands-on projects. Article content Article content Article content 'I searched around to try to find a contact and told them we'd be interested,' said Calgarian Patricia Letizia, who was then the executive director of Alberta Eco Trust. Article content Article content Helped by a private and anonymous $250,000 donation, the group and a host of partners set about constructing a wildlife bridge over the Rundle Canal above Canmore. Article content At that time, Canadian Pacific donated the bed of an old train car to use as the deck of the 14.8-metre-wide span, she said. Article content 'We did in fact build a bridge over the Rundle Canal and we had enough left over to afford an underpass at Dead Man's Flats,' said Letizia, who retired as Ecotrust CEO last December. Article content Both crossings — which were completed by the end of 2004 — were designed to ease wildlife transit from Banff National Park into the lower Bow Valley and Kananaskis. With lower animal mortality, both structures have proven their worth, said Letizia. Article content Article content 'It was at a point of the (Trans-Canada) Highway where there were a lot of wildlife collisions,' she said. 'Not all animals have the same kind of behaviour and the underpass would be used primarily by small animals, though some cougars and bears have been detected.' Article content Article content But that wasn't the end of the G8 legacy funds. Nearly $200,000 remained and were eventually disbursed between five conservation organizations. Article content Those receiving grants were the Biosphere Institute for the Bow Valley, the Karelian Bear Shepherding Institute of Canada, the Miistakis Institute for the Rockies, Bow Valley WildSmart and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Article content 'We really urged them to work collectively on large-impact issues, and it was a lot of fun collaborating,' said Letizia.