Excerpt from article regarding new wildlife crossings on the Sea to Sky Highway:

...Frogs are not the only animals living along the upgraded highway. Deer, bears, small mammals such as skunks, weasels, coyotes, raccoons and even ducks live along the way. As the highway was upgraded different types of passageways were created at various locations to help migration from one side to the other.

Results have been mixed said Malt, though he is hopeful.

"With the cameras we got photos of a whole lot of wildlife in higher numbers and of more diversity that we ever expected, so that is quite exciting," he said.

"...I think that the small and medium sized mammals and that mother duck seem to be quite fine with using the them....

"But the bear and the deer... they check it out, they go in and go out, but I haven't seen anything go through. So they are a bit more hesitant."

On a recent Sunday one of the main wildlife passageways in Squamish was waterlogged, making it unlikely animals would use it.

Another three-metre culvert in the Eagleridge Bluffs wetland area, the size recommended by the environment ministry for amphibian crossings, comes out near a sheer drop to a B.C. Ferries parking lot.

Without fencing all the way along the road to direct the wildlife the success of these passageways is hit and miss.

But Angela Buckingham, chief biologist for the transportation ministry, said fencing along the highway is impractical. There are 72 access points to the highway and each one of those would need a gate or a cattle guard.

"We did certainly consider it for this corridor but given all this it was not workable," she said, adding that well over $2 million has been spent on studies and mitigation for wildlife.

"The Ministry of Transportation is very dedicated to doing what (it) can to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat, recognizing too that in upgrading the highway we implemented modern environmental design standards. But there also is a cost to that and we are very concerned about making sure there is value for the taxpayer..."

For his part Buchanan believes it will take human carnage to change the government's position on fencing.

"Eventually people are going to hit wildlife and people are going to die of these impacts," he said.

The latest government statistics, from 1998 to 2007, show that six bears, 12 coyotes, 69 deer, 16 raccoons, and 15 other types of animals have been killed by vehicles between Squamish and Pemberton.

Buchanan believes these numbers are bare minimums and that the real numbers are much higher as these account for only the ones the highway workers remove.

Most animal deaths go unreported. And, he believes, the numbers will go up as more cars drive the road at greater speeds and wildlife is trapped due to the new concrete centre-line barrier system.

"I have lived in Squamish my whole life and I have never seen the type of wildlife kill, ever, that has been going on in the last year or so on the road," he said.

"You (fence) this because it is the right thing to do."