plenty Issue 20 Feb/Mar 2008 | Page 19

one shot plentyspectrum Inside the Dairy Industry 19 Eco Oscars 20 Punky Brewster Goes Green 22 Superhero of the Seas 24 Science and Beer 26 Tracking Turtles Online 28 Junk in the Family Trunk 30 photographs by tony clevenger BEAR Necessities This grizzly bear in Canada’s Banff National Park isn’t ambling along just any path—it’s walking over the TransCanada Highway on a wildlife crossing, a semi-natural bridge that provides animals secure passage across the busy, four-lane highway. The park now has 24 such bridges and tunnels. And grizzlies aren’t the only beasts that walk on the safe side: Since 1996, ten large-mammal species (including elk, cougar, and wolf) have used the crossings more than 95,000 times. The structures prevent animals from becoming roadkill and also connect habitat divided by roadways, which can help boost genetic diversity. Wildlife crossings are increasingly popular in North America: Their numbers doubled in the last decade, —Alisa Opar and more than 600 now dot the continent. plentymag.com | 17