With an eye toward improving wildlife connectivity in the Bow Valley, Stephen Legault has taken over as Y2Y program director for Alberta and NWT.
Legault began working with Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) in 1996, was a board director from 1997-04 and for the past five years has coordinated efforts of the Crown Conservation Initiative; a collaborative effort to connect and protect the internationally significant Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.
The Crown includes Waterton-Glacier Peace Park with a focus on maintaining connectivity for wide-ranging animals such as grizzly and wolverine.
Legault’s work in the Crown includes protection of the Castle Wilderness in the Crowsnest Pass area.
“The Castle (wilderness) was a key part of my work, and quite successful, but there’s still work to be done there,” he said. “Helping residents in Crowsnest Pass, Pincher Creek and elsewhere protect the Castle has been one of the highlights of my career in conservation.
“But one of the big problems that remains is off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. There are a lot of OHVs there, too many for the recovery of grizzlies. It will be a problem for a while with the mishmash of Alberta legislation.”
In taking over as Alberta/NWT program director, Legault said he’s stepped into a very unique situation, as his new job coincides with the first new provincial government in Alberta in four decades.
“For me, this is incredible timing. We have a new government, and I don’t know how long it will last, but there’s a sense of urgency for the next three years. I’d characterize our work as highly ambitious – we’ve had 40 years of neglect.”
In the Bow Valley, said Legault, interest in protection of wild places goes back to then-Premier Peter Lougheed and the eastern slopes of the Rockies. “Since June 2013 we’ve been looking at the highest purpose of the eastern slopes and Y2Y would argue that it’s not clearcutting.
“Clearcutting? So a company can profit while others suffer? And clearcutting in the Ghost is a travesty and symbolic of the attitude the previous government had. It’s a disaster on any number of fronts, from wildlife to floods to the landscape.”
With a new provincial government in place, though, Legault said unlike when the Conservatives were in power, there is a reason for conservation groups to actually spend time in Edmonton.
“Going to Edmonton was more symbolic in the past,” he said. “Now there can be new relationships that have meaning and we hope they’ll bear fruit.”
Based in the Bow Valley, Legault said a focus must be on wildlife connectivity from Banff, through the valley, and south into Kananaskis.
A handful of locations are critical, he said, with a wildlife corridor in Three Sisters being acted upon and the G8 wildlife underpass, for which he helped leverage funding, currently a disappointment, “due to what the MD is proposing.”
The MD is currently looking to develop on the east side of the Trans-Canada Highway near Dead Man’s Flats. The underpass currently leads from the forested south side of the underpass to what is now a cleared area full of slash piles waiting to be burned.
“Y2Y supports and applauds Canmore’s effort to find resolution (the Town of Canmore has appealed the MD’s approval of a Dead Man’s area structure plan) and we’d encourage the MD to step back and look at the broader scope for the area.
“We’d like to see the MD expand its tax base while being a good citizen of the Bow Valley and not throw municipal governments’ work out the window.”
Where the Bow Valley to the east opens out, Y2Y would like to see incorporation of structures like fencing and over or underpasses, if needed, that would help wildlife cross the road.
Another concern is Pigeon Creek, which was drastically altered in the 2013 flood and, without remediation, could present another disaster in the flood situation.
“What if there was another big flood,” he said. “You’re gambling with homes (Dead Man’s Flats) by taking unacceptable risks so the MD can increase its tax dollars.”
In the end, said Legault, making small decisions like allowing development near the G8 Trans-Canada wildlife underpass near Dead Man’s, “seem innocuous, but can have a huge impact. Over 20 years, Y2Y has learned that one small decision will influence others.
“Protection of wildlife and the landscape is like a house of cards and we’re hoping the MD doesn’t pull out the wrong card.”
