2020 UPDATE: Alberta Environment approves corridor in favour of developer’s slope line
In March of 2020, the provincial government officially approved the proposed delineation of the Three Sisters wildlife corridor. The same proposal had been denied by the previous government less than two years prior due to concerns about its functionality for wildlife. The UCP’s decision came as a blow to scientists and local wildlife conservationists who vocalized concerns that this decision will negatively affect the long term functionality of wildlife movement through the Three Sisters corridor.
The large tract of privately owned land slated for development on Three Sisters is an 1,800 acre property that stretches from the unfinished Three Sisters Golf Course (near the Peaks of Grassi neighbourhood) eastward all the way to Dead Man's Flats on the south-west side of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Three Sisters corridor is roughly 10 kilometres in length. The wildlife corridor and whether or not it will be viable for use by local and regional wildlife is considered one of the most urgent matters facing wildlife and the community in Canmore.
This stretch of forested land at Three Sisters is the site of two proposals by TSMV and their developer, Quantum Place that propose bringing a mix of residential, resort and commercial developments to the area. If the land is fully developed according to TSMV’s plan, the property would add up to 14,500 new residents and visitors to the valley, directly adjacent to the Three Sisters wildlife corridor.
The Canmore-based conservation organization Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, with input from a number of expert wildlife corridor scientists, had actively advocated for a corridor at Three Sisters of 450m width on slopes of less than 25 degrees (a concession from their ideal corridor width which would be 850-1000m).
The map below shows all mountain slopes at or above 25 degrees in coral.
Map showing Y2Y and TSMV’s proposed corridors.
In the map, Y2Y views the line in blue as the 25 degree slope line, based on their GIS measurements and keeping with avoiding placing 25-degree slopes within the corridor. With a corridor width of 450m, the area shown in translucent white would then be the location of an effective 450m wide corridor below 25-degrees slope. The environmental contractor hired by the developer (Golder Associates) draws their line (in purple) significantly further up slope, which results in more available land to build upon but less land remaining for wildlife. As you can see, a significant amount of coral coloured 25-degree slope sits within their proposed TSMV corridor, which has now been approved by the Province.