Wildlife Passages in an Urban Environment

As the largest urban park in Canada, with more than 160 kilometres of maintained pathways and 20 major parks, the River Valley is a natural asset for the City of Edmonton and part of a broader ecological network that connects through the tablelands and into the region. Edmonton has a long history of protecting the natural environment, building on strategic policies such as Natural Connections and Breathe: Edmonton’s Green Network Strategy. More recently, City Plan speaks to the green and blue network.

Part of developing and fostering this network is creating connectivity between natural areas, through the use of wildlife passages. Wildlife passages range in size, and scope, depending on their placement and target design groups. Passages provide safe movement opportunities for wildlife, but also reduce dangerous collisions and other wildlife-human conflict. Edmonton has been consistently implementing wildlife passage design into all new, and some retrofit neighbourhoods, for over a decade. Reflecting on the implementation and outcomes of this work is important, as well as examining new tools and approaches that have been developed over the past decade.

This project will improve our understanding of current best practices with respect to wildlife passage design. It will also create a comprehensive database of all wildlife passages that have been planned and constructed within the City. This will advance the knowledge of tools available, as well as provide a baseline for further analytic examination of the efficacy of the passages. The improved understanding will support the design of a connected, green and blue network.

Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Summers

Student:

Partner:

City of Edmonton

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services; Public administration

University:

University of Alberta

Program: