The Issue
There is a new campaign aimed at making the Banff area a little more hospitable to both people and wildlife. Jason Rogers, who coordinates the Banff Community Bird Walks, indicates that the walks are almost always interrupted by train horn noise. Jason explains it is a nuisance but say’s it’s also a community health issue and, as a growing body of research is showing, such noise has measurable effects on birds and other wildlife. This is small wonder, Jason explains, given that horns are used as bird deterrents in some places.
BVN is concerned about the long-term integrity of the wildlife corridor between the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway fence, up to and including the railway lands and those lands on the north side of the Town of Banff boundary. This is an important east-west wildlife movement corridor, which is slowly having its integrity whittled away by development (dog park, bus storage, expanded parking lots and increased human presence, proposals for a new gondola and transportation infrastructure). While we cannot turn the clock back, we feel it is important to continue to attempt to improve the effectiveness of this corridor.
Please consider signing the petition to quiet the trains by contacting silentnightbanff@gmail.com.