Crossing for Conservation
Natural grasslands are among Canada’s most threatened ecosystems. Movement barriers are a serious threat. Barriers, like highways and fences can stop the movements of the only large migrating mammal left on the Great Plains: the Pronghorn. Highways are a triple-threat to Pronghorn. First, Pronghorn are killed and injured on roadways. Second, traffic scares Pronghorn, so they may not approach busy roads at all. Finally, many highways are fenced for cattle, which also stop Pronghorn from getting where they need to go.
One solution is to build wildlife crossing structures to allow wildlife like pronghorn to cross roads and prevent automobile collisions with wildlife. The Pronghorn Xing project is a collaboration of the Alberta Conservation Association (ACA), the Miistakis Institute, and Canadian Wildlife Federation to identify and promote locations along the Trans-Canada Highway between Brooks, AB and Swift Current, SK. We follow the Pronghorn Connectivity Action Plan, which used citizen science expert data to locate potential crossing locations. Our work considers wildlife movement, motorist safety, and land use to improve both wildlife movement and transportation. If you are interested in learning more, please reach out to us at the CWF, ACA, or Miistakis Institute.
Videos
How This Program Helps
Our highway network is vast and amazing, connecting people and economies across this vast country. Years of research has shown that as much as we need maps to help us navigate our highway network, animals also struggle with our roads. But for wildlife, roads and highways are often barriers to movement, not pathways. CWF is proud to partner with the Alberta Conservation Association and Miistakis Institute on a new project to find solutions to help prairie wildlife navigate one of Canada's busiest highway, the TransCanada.
Key Solution
In the News
-
Living Lab on the Radio
January 7, 2024 - Listen to their interview here to learn more about participants’ experiences within Living Lab – Central Prairies, and the importance of the project to ranchers, researchers and conservationists alike.
-
Living Lab on the Radio
January 7, 2024 - Listen to their interview here to learn more about participants’ experiences within Living Lab – Central Prairies, and the importance of the project to ranchers, researchers and conservationists alike.
-
Program hopes to prevent pronghorn deaths
November 2, 2023 - Wildlife crossings in the Rockies are a regular sight but a group of conservation and government officials in Alberta and Saskatchewan are looking to install safe areas for migrating pronghorn herds to cross the Trans-Canada Highway.
-
Study investigates ways to make pronghorn crossing of highways safer
March 9, 2022 - Road infrastructure on the prairie has a significant impact on the movement and migration of the pronghorn, North America’s fastest land animal. A multidisciplinary research project with a citizen science component has identified several areas along the Trans-Canada Highway between Brooks in southeast Alberta and Swift Current in southwest Saskatchewan where road improvements can support pronghorn conservation.
-
SSGF Receives $3.4M to Help Conserve Prairie Grasslands
March 4, 2021 - Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation (SSGF) is pleased to announce it has been awarded $3.4M from the Weston Family Foundation Prairie Grasslands Initiative to collaborate on one of the largest prairie grasslands conservation efforts in Canadian history.
-
Weston Family Foundation awards nearly $25M in grants to support the conservation of biodiversity on the Canadian Prairie Grasslands
March 3, 2021 - Good News. CWF will be working with the Saskatchewan Stockgrowers Foundation on a prairie grassland conservation project, funded by the Weston Foundation. Learn more about this project, and other initiatives to conserve the biodiversity of the prairie grasslands
Prairie Wildlife Trail Camera Footage Along the TransCanada Highway
What is a road mitigation system?
A road mitigation system includes overpasses and underpasses to facilitate crossing of wildlife and is connected by wildlife-exclusion fencing to keep traffic flowing freely and increase motorist and wildlife safety.
Program Lead
CWF Native Grassland Conservation Manager. John’s work on native prairie grasslands includes research, policy and collaborative conservation work with ranchers and partners including Saskatchewan Stockgrowers Foundation and South of the Divide Conservation Action Program. He is a member of the Grassland Roadmap Canadian Working Group. John is an adjunct professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Geography & Planning with a focus on remote sensing in grasslands. John works closely with the Terrestrial Ecology program at CWF, led by Dr. Carolyn Callaghan, giving the Native Grassland program a national and international scope.
"Native prairie grasslands pulsate with life and culture."
Sign Up for Timely
Learn more about Canada's Grasslands.
- 0
- 1
- 2
