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If you have any questions on the information presented, or require additional report data or attachments, please contact the Report Contact
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The Flathead and Elk Valleys of southeast British Columbia currently safeguard one of the greatest assemblages of large mammal species in North America. Decades of research has highlighted the immense value of this landscape for transboundary wildlife populations, and the potential challenges as human impacts intensify (Lamb et al. 2020; Proctor et al. 2012), (Poole et al. 2016; McLellan 2015; Benz et al. 2016; Mowat et al. 2020).
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Author: Clayton Lamb, Emily Chow, Matt Jones
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Old Reference Number: COL-F25-W-4041
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Old Reference System: FWCP - Fish Wildlife Compensation Program Columbia
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Date Published: Mar 2025
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Report ID: 63220
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Audience: Government and Public
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While there is growing appreciation of the recreational and resource extraction opportunities on this landscape, the combined impact of increased traffic volumes, growing housing developments, recreation use, and expanding coal and timber extraction have the potential to profoundly influence the shared wildlife and habitat corridors in the region.
Highway 3, which bisects southern British Columbia (BC) east to west, has been identified as a barrier to wildlife connectivity, and a source of direct mortality (Apps and Wildlife Conservation Society Canada 2007; Lamb et al. 2017; Proctor et al. 2015). Highway 3 creates a fracture zone for many large mammals that impacts their movement and dispersal at local and continental scales (Canada/USA) (Proctor et al. 2012). Multiple conservation threats stem from this fracture such as disconnecting important habitats, fragmenting populations, and direct mortality from collisions. Many of the species that are impacted by the highway are species of local conservation concern and hold high cultural values, such as grizzly bear, wolverine, bighorn sheep, American badger, elk and mule deer.
The current rate of wildlife-vehicle collisions has raised concerns among the public, conservation groups, and First Nations. On average, nearly half of all reported vehicle collisions with animals (primarily wildlife, but also domestic) occur in the Southern Interior of BC (average 4,700/year in the Interior, 11, 000/year in the province, ICBC). In the Interior, those collisions result in an average of 370 human injuries and 2 fatalities per year. Wildlife-vehicle collisions are especially high in southeast British Columbias Kootenay region. Within the East Kootenay service area approximately 1,200 to 1,600 road killed animals are collected per year (Mainroads Group 2019). Along Highway 3 from the Alberta border to Jaffray area, BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructures (MOTI) Wildlife Accident Reporting System (WARS) reports 1,443 animal carcasses were collected from 2012-2017, the majority being deer (~175/year) and elk (~55/year). However, the true number of animals killed is likely much greater. For example, three collared grizzly bears were killed by collisions on Highway 3, and none were recorded in any government databases because the animals died off the highway edge. Similarly, neither of the two collared elk killed by vehicles on numbered highways in the Elk Valley were recorded in government databases. Most vehicle strikes are likely unreported, due to the nature of these collisions.
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Report Type
Subject
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Mammals - Badger: Taxidea taxus |
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Mammals - Bighorn Sheep: Ovis canadensis |
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Mammals - Elk: Cervus elaphus |
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Mammals - Grizzly Bear: Ursus arctos |
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Mammals - Mule Deer: Odocoileus hemionus |
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Mammals - Wolverine: Gulo gulo |
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Region - Kootenay |
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Terrestrial Information - Habitat Modeling |
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