Dear Editor: Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) is presently reviewing input from environmental experts and the public on the fate of wildlife corridors in the Bow Valley.
Three Sisters Mountain Village has submitted an application to designate the Smith Creek wildlife corridor. The wildlife corridor application proposes that are too steep (25 per cent grades, the equivalent of double diamond ski hill), and not wide enough for safe wildlife corridor connectivity in my opinion.
For wildlife safety, the longer the corridor, the wider it should be. The corridor is over 17 kilometres long when finished. To ensure connectivity between habitat patches and wildlife movement, experts are calling for corridors of over 1,000 metres in width. If we don’t get it right now, there will be no chance to correct any mistakes in the future.
In the 1990s, environmentalists and public input were ignored and the Peaks of Grassi neighbourhood was developed. Hindsight gives us 20/20 vision. The experts and the public were proven right and the Peaks should have remained undeveloped as a wildlife conservation area. Annual closures of the powerline trails in the Peaks, remind us of this past mistake.
Profitability of developers should not compromise the Bow Valley’s wildlife corridors and habitat.
Jill Asbell,
Canmore
