Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing Project

The Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing Project undertook the construction of 15 kilometres of “eight foot” high wildlife enclosure fence along the west side of Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland in the Thompson-Okanagan ecoregion, British Columbia.

Highway 97 runs through Summerland and Peachland, parallel and just west of Okanagan Lake. This portion of highway passes through a mule deer winter migration area, which deer travel distances of up to 75 kilometres to reach. There had been a high number of vehicle accidents along this stretch during past winter months. Up to 202 deer were removed from the stretch of highway between November 1996 and April 1997 – as many as two animals for every one animal found dead on the highway were believed to have staggered off the road to ditches and orchards to die (Visions 1998). Periods of unusually early snowfall in this winter stretch forced deer to lower elevations in search of food. This resulted in the deer making many trips across Highway 97, increasing the risk of danger to themselves and motorists traveling by.

In the spring of 1997, to address this serious and long-standing concern, highway commuters, BC Wildlife Federation Sportsmen and numerous government agencies collaborated to form a committee to oversee the planning and construction of a wildlife enclosure fence along this portion of Highway 97 as a result of the efforts of the Summerland Sportsmen’s Association.

The overall goal of the project is to reduce the number of motor vehicle accidents between the mule deer population and motorists traveling along Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland.

Objectives to meet this goal include:

•  Investigating the most feasible, cost effective solution to the deer / motor vehicle collisions;
• Coordinating stakeholders to work together to implement the recommended solution;
• Raising financial and in-kind contributions to see the solution implemented;
•  Managing the implementation / construction phase of the project; and,
• Monitoring the implementation process and results to evaluate the benefits and constraints of the project.

Some of the challenges faced through the coarse of this project include:

•  Leveraging the portion of funds necessary to initiate and see this project through to completion.
• The considerable length of area to be fenced as well as the rough terrain – including steep slopes and rocky outcrops – adjacent to the active highway served as considerable challenges throughout Phases One and Two of the project.
•  The complexity of working with a variety of stakeholders is certainly challenging to coordinate but is extra rewarding when the project is underway and completion begins to become a reality.

The project site is along Highway 97 between Summerland and Peachland.

In 1997, BC Parks staff hosted a meeting of representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Highways and the Ministry of Water, Land and Air (former Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks) to discuss strategies to reduce the number of deer being struck by vehicles along this stretch of highway. A representative from ICBC was also invited because of the cost of insurance claims from these accidents. (ICBC indicated that the average deer /motor car collision cost $1700.00 in claims.) BC Wildlife Federation members were also in attendance. The representatives soon formed a planning team of a variety of stakeholders. The planning team funded Keystone Wildlife Research to prepare an in-depth study of the site. The study concluded that enclosure fencing was a cost effective approach to mitigating the collision conflicts along this stretch of highway. There was careful consideration of the mortalities versus the habitat capability of a portion of winter range on the east side of the lake adjacent to the highway. In conclusion, all stakeholders agreed that enclosure fencing from this winter range would be the most appropriate option to protect both deer and people from further highway accidents.

Under the recommendation of Bob Lincoln, Kirk Roberge of the Summerland Sportsmen’s Association took on the task of seeking out a project coordinator. The project coordinator’s role would be to work with the contractors to see that the project was completed on time and at a reasonable cost. The project coordinator would also be responsible for dealing with all landowners and finding the most desirable and practical locations to install the fence. This position was contracted to Carsten Neilsen of Carsten Construction Ltd., Summerland, BC.

By the beginning of 1997, MOTH had committed approximately $180,000.00 to purchase all the required materials to complete the fence. The BC Parks had donated an area at the administration office to use as a storage yard. The project coordinator, Carsten Nielsen arranged to meet with Human Resource Development Canada to assist in the project labour costs. Their initial contribution was under the Employment Creation Program to a value of $64,000.00.

Since the project did not yet have all of the funding in place to construct the entire 15 kilometres of fencing (estimated at a cost of $350,000); the project committee decided to tender the project in two phases. Phase One was to complete approximately 2.3 kilometres of fencing, while Phase Two would finish the remaining 12.7 kilometres.

The project coordinator approached 6 potential qualified contractors within BC to bid on the project. Tender documents were picked up by 4 of the contractors. On November 12, 1997, 3 tenders had been submitted with estimates ranging from $47,347.50 to $56, 522.75. Unfortunately, all the tenders were higher than expected project costs.

The Highway 97 Wildlife Project Committee began negotiations with one of the contractors, Mike Ohman from Chute Creek Contracting, to work as a supervisor for the construction phase. To assist in reducing costs, the committee hired their own equipment contractors. The Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing Project also received extensive ‘in-kind’ contribution for labour and materials. Argo Road Maintenance provided approximately $20,000 for installation of “Texas Cattleguards” where required. In addtion, the project received substantial contributions from volunteer labour from club members of the Okanagan region of BCWF. These volunteers worked on disassembling and removing non-functioning sections of existing fence – a contribution of labour valued at up to $20,000.

By the beginning of December 1997, the committee had its first ‘post pounding celebration.’ All project participants and sponsors as well as the media were invited to this important initiation of the project.

Phase One of the project went very smoothly, and was completed by January of 1998. All fencing constructed in Phase One was on Crown Land.

The project committee was pleased with the success of Chute Creek Contracting through Phase One and requested Chute Creek Contracting continue with Phase Two of the project once funding was in place. To continue with the momentum of the project and assist in initiating Phase Two, HRDC contributed an additional $16,800 to construct 2.1 kilometres of fence on the remaining Crown Land.

During Phase One, the project coordinator began contacted landowners who owned the land where the fence was to be constructed during Phase Two. All the landowners were very receptive to the project and signed agreements with MOTH and the Summerland Sportsman Association, allowing construction of the enclosure fence on their property.

The construction of this Hwy 97 “top-railed,” 8ft high, high tensile page-wire fence was consistent with MoTH fence standards and specifications for wildlife enclosure fence along the Coquihalla Highway and Okanagan Connector Highway. One-way gates are provided at strategic locations to enable deer caught on the highway side of the fence to escape. Panel gates or “Texas Cattle Guards” have been installed at driveway crossings. A black poly pipe supported by internal, high tensile smooth wire provides a surrogate top rail, and increases the visual profile of the fence to deer. To avoid the spread of knapweed and other unwanted vegetation in the areas that were disturbed by the construction of the fence, a mixture of fall rye grass and native seed (donated by BC Parks) was planted as a cover crop. These cover-cropped areas have germinated successfully and, the landscape is beginning to rehabilitate in areas where construction has been completed.

The Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing project has been a win / win project for all involved. The project has resulted in reduced accident claims. Since the start of the wildlife fence along the Peachland Summerland section of Highway 97, there has been a noticeable drop in car-animal collisions at the Kelowna ICBC center – in 1998, 90 collisions had been claimed, versus three times that many, 270 claims, in 1997. Chris Gibson of ICBC estimated that the fence had already saved the corporation $300,000 during the construction phase alone (BC Outdoors 1999). In addition to the reduced accident claims this project has benefited a number of other agencies and organizations by: improving road safety and maintenance for MOTH; reducing emergency response calls for RCMP and Conservation Officer Service; reducing ambulance calls; and, reducing road-kill carrion for BC Parks in and adjacent to popular parks. Most importantly, the Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing project has lowered the risk of fatal accidents to both people and wildlife along this stretch of highway.

The Peachland and Summerland Sportman Associations consider the Highway 97 Deer Fencing project to be the “largest wildlife safety program in British Columbia.” Although deer mortalities along Highway 97 may never reach zero, the committee is confident that with the completion of the wildlife enclosure fence the number of collisions will continue to drop dramatically, helping to protect both deer and people as they travel through the Thompson-Okanagan.

The Councils of both Summerland and Peachland agreed to tie the ends of the fence into the town sites, to prevent the deer from going around the ends of the fence.

A small herd of mountain goats are also protected from highway traffic and collisons with vehicles.

Many thanks to the committee members responsible for the initiation, planning and management of the Highway 97 Deer Fencing Project, including:

Kirk Roberge, Summerland Sportsmen Association
Dan Santano, BC Wildlife Federation
Ed Sanders, Ministry of Transportation and Highways
Ron Lepage, Ministry of Transportation and Highways
Bob Lincoln, Ministry of Water, Land and Air
Don Gough, Ministry of Water, Land and Air
Danie Tremblay, Ministry of Water, Land and Air

A special thanks to landowners who supported the project by allowing the construction of the wildlife fence on their property.

And thanks to the project sponsors, who provided the necessary resources to make this project a reality, including:

Ministry of Transportation and Highways
Human Resource Development Canada
Habitat Conservation Trust Fund
Okanagan Region Wildlife Heritage Fund Society
BC Wildlife Federation – Okanagan Region
Argo Road Maintenance
Summerland & Peachland Sportsmen Association
Corporation of Summerland
Friends of the Environment
Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC)

Case Study References:

“Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing Project – Summerland to Peachland.” HCTF Final Report. 1999.

“Fence Successful.” BC Outdoors. March 12, 1999.

“Fence to Make Highway Cheaper.” The Daily Courier. December 18, 1997.

“Summerland Council Finds Doe for Project.” Southern Exposure. October 24, 1998.

“The Deer Fence.” Visions. BC Parks Newsletter. June. 1998. vol. 9. no 3.

Highway 97 Wildlife Fencing Project
Carsten Nielsen
Project Coordinator
Box 436
Summerland, BC Canada
V0H 1Z0
Phone: 250-494-8298
Email: vcnielsen@telus.net