With summer clearly upon us in the Bow Valley, most people want to forget about the white stuff, the harbinger of winter – snow.
But for Parks Canada researchers, it is snow that presents itself as the next challenge to overcome for its electromat pilot project in the mountain national parks.
The electromats – or electrified mats – are being tested as a way to prevent bears from entering fenced stretches of the railway and is one of several studies Parks Canada has partnered with Canadian Pacific Railway on to improve bear survival in Banff and Yoho national parks.
Adam Sherriff, a resource conservation officer with the Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay Field Unit, provided an update on the work during a recent talk at the Whyte Museum.
The multi-phased project began in June 2012 and researchers have now completed a second winter of operating two test sites. The project is now moving into the second summer – with operations near Castle Junction and the other near the Ottertail River.
Sherriff said without snow cover in winter the mats proved to be 100 per cent effective in deterring wildlife from entering a baited test site and 84 per cent effective when all data is considered.
“All our successful crossings both at the Ottertail and Castle sites occur during the winter … while the mat is actually snow covered, so there is anywhere from five centimetres or greater of snow on the mat,” he said. “It is essentially making an insulated layer between the animal’s pad foot and the electric mat, so it is actually not touching the wires or connecting or completing that circuit. The animals are able to cross the mat without receiving a shock.”
The other winter-related issue experienced at the test sites was low daylight hours, as solar power is used to charge the mats. Sherriff said under full power and under regularly operated circumstances the results are a much more positive number to look at.
He said next steps for the project are to design a standalone heating system to address snow cover and work on the power supply.
The joint project came out of a $1 million investment by CP to partner with Parks in 2012 to address the issue of wildlife mortality on its tracks and especially when it comes to grizzly bears in the national parks.
From 2004-13, there have been 12 confirmed grizzly bears killed on the tracks, 30 black bears, eight wolves and more than 300 ungulates. Sherriff said the railway, which runs through the Bow Valley, Banff National Park, the Kicking Horse Valley and through Yoho heading west, is also used by wildlife.
“It is a major industrial area and it is also used heavily by wildlife for a couple of reasons,” he said. “They are using it for forage – they are foraging on the rail and adjacent to the rail – and they are also using it as a major travel corridor, so it is easy for them to travel from point A to B in the valley.
“Every time these animals interact with the railway they are essentially exposing themselves to danger. Just like a child running across a busy street, there is no one to watch out for them as they cross the road.
“This interaction can be as short as a quick crossing from one side to the other, or a prolonged exposure if they are feeding on the tracks or using the tracks to travel the corridor.”
Fencing the railway was an obvious area to consider, however it is impossible to fence the entire railway line or put fences across the tracks. The research began to look at testing the ability to fence a section of the railway and have an entrance requirement with no gates or manual movement, but which prevents wildlife from entering the fenced area.
Hence the electromats. Sherriff said the project aims to see if animals that enter an area of fenced railway with a mat, if an electrified mat would deter them, or if they would also climb a fence and if an electric fence would also act as a deterrent.
At the same time, he said, the design should be simple, efficient and require very low maintenance. The design uses a 24 by 18 foot electrified mat which works like an electric fence but lies on the ground, with rail ties and ballasts and an anchored fence around the perimeter to prevent digging and a jump out for animals to get out if they access the site. It also includes a series of remote cameras and video equipment and a swing gate staff can open if an animal is stuck.
“First we had to make sure the animals would even go in there, so we divided into three phases,” Sherriff said. “Phase one is a pre-treatment, as we want to see how the animals will be enticed to come in here. Are they actually even going to walk into the fenced area, or is the fenced area already enough of a deterrent that we are losing some of them?”
The site was baited and once it was shown animals would access the site, the electricity was turned on. That is also when researchers wanted to see whether animals would climb the fence to access the bait. Once that was achieved, a single strand hotwire was added to the fence and tied into the electromat.
While five instances of fence climbing were recorded, so far only grizzly bear 128 climbed the fence after being deterred by the electromat. Sherriff said adding a charge to the fence subsequently successfully deterred that bear and it has not returned.
Meanwhile, bear 122 was deterred at the Castle site and was then seen at the Ottertail site, which he did not attempt to cross. Sherriff said at that time the Ottertail did not have the power on yet – a promising result if animals are able to adjust and learn.
He said the project also aims to study ungulates’ response to the fenced area using grain as bait, which obviously cannot be done at the same time as it is tested for carnivores.
