Sometime next month, public and private partners will team up to plant trees along Highway 99 in the latest attempt to reduce the hazards associated with "bear jams" in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Over the past few years the area north of the Culliton Creek Bridge -a.k.a. the Big Orange Bridge (BOB) - between Squamish and Whistler has been frequented by bears and other wildlife, making it a common place for tour buses and private vehicles to stop and view the animals.
But the practice increases the risk of gawkers being hit on the highway, traffic accidents and dangerous human-wildlife encounters and is being discouraged through a variety of measures, Meg Toom, Squamish Bear Aware co-ordinator, said on Tuesday (Sept. 27).
Other measures, spelled out by Leonard Sielecki, environmental issues analyst with the B.C. Ministry of Transportation (MOT), at a meeting to discuss the issue in May, included highway signs warning motorists not to stop to view wildlife. This past summer, the signs were placed strategically -one just south of Squamish, one just south of the Alice Lake turnoff (for northbound motorists) and one at the south end of Whistler (for southbound motorists).
Other signs were being placed along near the turnoff to the Callaghan Valley and along Callaghan Valley Road, an area frequented by bears since its completion in 2007, Toom said.
The BOB tree-planting program includes co-operation from MOT, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, Bear Aware, ICBC, Miller Capilano (the highway maintenance contractor), Carney's Waste Services and others, Toom said, adding that the work should be completed by mid-October.
"The idea is blocking sightlines," Toom said. "The ministry will put together a site plan. Miller Capilano has offered to dig the 40 holes, then Paul Kindree and Owen Carney (of Carney's) have agreed to donate some of the soil we need for backfill.
"Carney's will drop off the soil and MOT will plant and stake the trees -I believe they're cedars. They'll try and stagger them so that it blocks sightlines, and obviously it'll take a bit of time for them to grow and block out well, but it's a long-term project."
Toom said the initiative also involves asking rental car and tour-bus companies to distribute information to drivers about the hazards of stopping to view wildlife and advising them not to stop.
One frequent criticism of the Highway 99 upgrade project is that disturbed areas near the road were hydroseeded with plant material (including sweet clover) that bears love to eat, bringing bears close to the highway to feed. As a result of last May's meeting, MOT officials are reviewing the seed mix used for hydroseeding to determine whether it can include a mix that's less attractive to animals, Toom said.
"Leonard said he would touch base with me once a decision is made," she said.
