Look Out Bears, There's a Train Coming In episode 34 I talked about the incredible success that Banff National Park has had in terms of reducing the number of animals, such as grizzly bears, that are being killed along our highways. The system of over and underpasses that have been pioneered here are now serving as a template for many new areas that are trying to emulate Banff's successes. You can listen to the full episode at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep034. While the highways have been getting safer and safer as the system of fencing and crossing structures are expanded, the one area that still shows little improvement is the Canadian Pacific Railway line through the mountain parks. Canadian Pacific has worked closely with Parks Canada over the years to look at a variety of ways to try to reduce the numbers of animals that perish along tracks. Back in episode 19, I described some of the principle research being done on bear impacts along the tracks. You can listen to it at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep019. In this episode, researchers looked into the timing and location of fatalities. They found that, while more bears use the tracks in the western end of Banff, more bears were being killed in the eastern portions of the park. One of the conclusions was that the eastern portions are often closer to the busy highways which may have made it difficult for bears to hear the approach of trains. The bears also may need to have better sightlines so that they can see approaching trains from a greater distance. Another study proposed another theory as to why bears in the west edge of the park fare better than those farther east - The Boss - Bear 122. The Boss is a regular visitor to the tracks in the western portions of Banff and into Yoho National Park and he's even been bounced off a freight train and walked away unharmed. One theory is that the Boss is so protective of the tracks that other bears simply don't feel safe approaching his turf. Since he has been patrolling the tracks, no confirmed bear death has occurred since 2012. However, between 2000 and 2012, 14 grizzlies were killed along the tracks within Banff's east border and the west end of Yoho. Perhaps the Boss is helping to keep the tracks safer. Another study that I discuss in Episode 19 showed that an estimated 110 metric tonnes of grains are spilled along the tracks within Banff and Yoho every year - enough to support the annual food needs of some 50 grizzlies! This week, I want to look at a new study that has been looking into just how much bears use the tracks as well as what foods were making the tracks so attractive. While there are obvious attractants, like grain spills and carrion, researchers did not know what the relative importance of each of these were to the bears. Between 2011 and 12, they placed satellite collars on 21 different bears. The collars provided information on their position every 2 hours. In addition, they analyzed 230 grizzly scats collected between May and October over the years 2012 to 2014. Surprisingly, of the 21 grizzlies, only 4 were regular visitors to the CPR main line. These bears visited the tracks in excess of 20% of the days on which their movements were monitored. Scat samples from these four bears all occasionally contained grain. In fact, 43% of all grizzly scat samples found within 150 m of the tracks contained some grain. Beyond 150 m, the incidence of grain dropped to a mere 7%. It appears grain is a more important food in the fall, as 85% of the scat samples found near the tracks contained grain at this time as compared to only 14% in the summer and 17% in the spring. This makes sense when we look at the seasonally available food sources and behaviour of bears during the summer. Earlier in the season, there is a wider variety of available foods. In late summer, the buffaloberry crop disappears with the