CANMORE – The Town of Canmore is looking to build wildlife exclusion fences around urban green spaces, has hiked fines for off-leash dogs and boosted funding to encourage removal of fruit trees, in a bid to keep wildlife and people safe.
The initiatives follow the release of the long-awaited human-wildlife coexistence implementation and action plan, which was adopted by Canmore council on March 5 as a road map to help improve human-wildlife coexistence.
As part of a scope revision of approved 2024 capital dollars, $28,000 will be spent on detailed design of wildlife exclusion fencing for Lions Park and Millennium Park and an additional $50,000 has been earmarked to encourage more residents to get rid of fruit trees that draw bears to town.
The Town is also cracking down on people caught with dogs off-leash, with fines jumping to $250 for a first offence, $500 for a second offence and $1,000 for a third offence. There are also fines starting at $750 for allowing animals to show threatening behaviour towards wildlife.
“This plan will pay dividends for wildlife,” said Gareth Thomson, executive director of the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, which oversees Bow Valley WildSmart.
“We want to keep bears out of people’s backyards and help people understand how to be safe on the trails and how to deal with wildlife when they encounter them.”
Canmore has emerged as one of Canada’s fastest-growing communities, according to 2021 census data, with a growth rate of 14.3 per cent to about 16,000 residents, significantly above both the provincial and national averages.
As a result of this fast pace of growth and tourism-related activities, high quality wildlife habitat as well as connectivity between habitat patches has continually declined.
Interactions between wildlife and humans, given expanding human development encroaching onto increasingly limited habitat for wildlife, are expected to continue increasing.
Mayor Sean Krausert said the implementation and action plan – which was prepared with the help of Black Fly Environmental – was accepted by council for planning purposes, meaning not all actions get automatically implemented.
“Not everything in the plan will come to fruition. There’s lots of factors at play including budgetary discussions, learnings along the way as far as movement of animals,” he said.
“This is giving direction to administration that they can use this as part of their planning and anything else still has to come back to council. Some things may involve public hearings or other forms of engagement before they actually take place.”
The new plan recommends removal of fruit-bearing trees should be the No. 1 priority to decrease human-wildlife conflict and wildlife habitation in town, particularly ornamental crabapple trees which draw bears to town in search of a calorie-rich meal.
Each year, black bears are shipped out of town or killed for management reasons after getting into fruit trees.
Laura Vilchis Sanchez, communications advisor for Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services, said Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers euthanized five black bears in Canmore in 2023, though no grizzly bears were put down.
She said Fish and Wildlife officers did not relocate any black bears or grizzly bears in Canmore last year.
“Fish and Wildlife officers use the black bear response guide to determine how bears are processed and handled, including whether they are relocated or euthanized,” she said.
In Canmore, it is against the law to let fruit or berries accumulate on trees, bushes, or the ground. Fines can range from $250 to $10,000.
While the current community standards bylaw prohibits the planting of new fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, a survey noted there are still about 2,582 fruit trees in town.
A tree removal incentive program, introduced in 2019, helps property owners cover the cost of tree removal by providing $500 per property.
With the $10,000 incentive program fully subscribed last year by the end of August, council has approved an additional $50,000 this year for the residential fruit tree removal incentive program.
Thomson said ambassadors went door-to-door promoting the incentive program last year.
“We’re committed to ensuring that the momentum keeps up,” he said.
In addition, Black Fly Environmental recommends the Town of Canmore get rid of all crabapple trees on municipally owned land before 2029, with a priority focus on areas within the town centre and within 100 metres of riparian buffer zones.
“We know that riparian corridors are known wildlife travel routes and provide excellent habitat for wildlife moving into town as well as passing through town,” said Randy Haviland, director and wildlife scientist for Black Fly Environmental.
“We really want to remove the incentives for bears, particularly with crabapple trees, to venture into town centre, and try to keep that from happening to begin with.”
Caitlin Van Gaal, the municipality’s environment and sustainability supervisor, said the council-approved $30,000 annual five-year budget will be used to prioritize fruit tree removal on Town-owned property.
“We’ll be starting in priority zone 1 for crabapples and systematically moving through fruit tree removal as recommended in the report,” she said.
Along with bears getting too comfortable in town, elk can also pose a safety risk.
The report recommended exploration of a possible conservation officer to be stationed in Canmore to reduce response times to wildlife encounters and to allow potential for future hazing programs.
In addition, wildlife exclusion fencing was recommended to be installed around recreational areas in town. Fencing is currently installed around Centennial Park.
“Lions Park and Millennium Park are the two that are recommended, mainly because they are a shared space for both families, elders and general gathering for outdoor recreation and get-togethers,” said Haviland.
“We want to avoid the potential for families to be impacted by or come into contact with elk or bears, and we know the risk is there.”
Van Gaal said administration will work with a contracted project management firm to develop a detailed design for the recommended wildlife exclusion fences at Lions Park and Millennium Park, which will include consultation with user groups.
“The results of this detailed design will be used to bring forward an informed capital project request for council consideration in a future budget approval,” she said.
Given fencing urban green spaces can eliminate browsing for elk, Haviland said it is important for the Town of Canmore to advocate the province for the integration of FireSmart strategies to improve wildlife habitat.
“FireSmart habitat enhancement goes hand in hand with the exclusion fencing,” he said, noting Canmore is surrounded by dense, mature forest, which makes it both susceptible to wildfires and creating poorer habitat for ungulates.
“It was brought up in numerous conversations that if we are proposing to remove grazing opportunities for elk, particularly at those parks, it’s important to counteract that and provide grazing opportunities elsewhere,” he added.
“Increasing that habitat in those areas not only provides more habitat for elk, but also is going to encourage elk to be in those areas as opposed to in town.”
Another priority in the plan is ongoing enforcement of off-leash dog bylaws, with a recommendation for consideration of off-leash dog parks in future developments.
Currently, there are five designated off-leash dog parks – Cougar Creek/1A, Quarry Lake, Elk Run, Palliser, and Hubman.
As well as increased fines for off-leash dogs, council also decided that owners may only have three dogs under their care at unfenced off-leash parks because of the increased potential for human-wildlife conflict in these areas. This pertains to the two areas at Quarry Lake that are not fenced and the fine amount is $250.
If after two years, the problem of off-leash dog walking continues in town, the human-wildlife action plan then recommends the Town of Canmore consider hiring an additional community peace officer to deal with the issue.
Haviland said off-leash dogs are still a persistent problem in Canmore, despite an all-time high in tickets handed out in 2023 – close to 160.
“I think the continued enforcement of those is going to prove valuable going forward,” he said.
For 2024, the Town of Canmore will focus on a robust education campaign, with a focus on off-leash dogs, elk calving and rutting seasons, and wildlife attractant removal. Administration will also work with Bow Valley partners on a regionally designed and approved education campaign
Van Gaal said administration will be reviewing all other recommendations in the plan, and bringing them forward for council’s consideration as part of future municipal budgets.
She said the plan builds on the recommendations of the 2018 Bow Valley human-wildlife co-existence report that the municipality has “direct control or influence over.”
“They do not directly address the wide-scale land use and policy changes to support human-wildlife coexistence across the entire Bow Valley or Canadian Rockies,” said Van Gaal.
