The trans-Canada Highway runs for 83 kilometers through Canada's oldest and most prominent national park. Its heavy traffic poses a threat to wildlife, yet the wildlife is part of an ecosystem which is supposed to be legally protected within the park. For years Parks Canada has attempted to reconcile the competing demands of a national transportation route and a national park by an experiment in fencing the highway and constructing wildlife overpasses and underpasses to allow wildlife to move across the landscape.
Shooting the Gap examines what we have learned. Trough interviews with parks officials, police and conservationists, combined with outstanding footage if wildlife actually using the crossing structures, it looks at both successes and limitations. It also looks at the new measures been taken near Lake Louise, where a dense population of grizzly bears raises special concerns. The experiment is yielding lessons which can be applied far beyond the boundaries of Banff Na