Effective wildlife exclusion systems typically include approximately 6 km of fencing on either side of a crossing structure. This exclusion fencing is designed to guide animals safely toward the crossings. But what happens when animals end up inside the fenced road corridor? This is where escape structures, such as jump-outs, come into play.
Escape structures are an essential part of all BC Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MOTT) projects involving exclusion fencing. These structures are designed to allow animals to safely exit the restricted road corridor and are tailored to the specific needs of different species, with heights ranging from a 30 cm turtle escape ramp to a 2.5-meter bighorn sheep jump-out, ensuring that animals can escape while also preventing their re-entry.
MOTT is assessing the efficacy of jump-outs at excluding bighorn sheep from the highway corridor along the Kicking Horse Canyon. Typically, MOTT will install one-way gates, but, when bighorn sheep are present, jump-out structures are installed as bighorns are craftier than other animals such as elk and need special infrastructure to keep them away from highways. Bighorn sheep have been observed learning how to open one-way gates the “wrong” way!
For the Kicking Horse Canyon project, jump-outs were constructed using lock blocks to heights of 1 – 2 metres. Bighorn sheep, however, took advantage of these structures in an unexpected way—using them to jump the wrong direction, entering the highway corridor in search of forage. In response, MOTT has set up wildlife cameras at these jump-out locations since 2022 to monitor the effectiveness of retrofitting efforts designed to improve wildlife exclusion.
Initial retrofits involved placing a metal plate over the lock blocks to prevent bighorn sheep from gaining leverage. This was followed by adding a metal bar to further increase the height and, ultimately, digging out the base of the structures to create jump-outs that exceed 2 m in height. MOTT, in partnership with SENSR, is closely monitoring the performance of these retrofits, with the goal of achieving better wildlife exclusion and minimizing the risk of bighorn sheep mortalities. Cameras are still deployed and continue to offer valuable insights on improving escape structure specifications to reduce wildlife presence on BC highways.
