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Spring 2026 |
Newsletter Archive |
Pronghorn Xing Updates |  |
Explore new design renderings of highway crossing structures in the grasslands, alongside two years of biodiversity monitoring results from pronghorn enhancement sites. The Pronghorn Xing team has been busy recently, creating a new infographic and analyzing two years of biodiversity monitoring data! Crossing for Conservation: A Critical Investment shares the first design renderings of what a wildlife overpass or underpass for pronghorn and other grassland species could look like on the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The infographic highlights that crossing structures, as part of a broader road mitigation system, will enhance safety for both wildlife and motorists along the Trans-Canada Highway between Brooks, AB and Swift Current, SK; a stretch of highway that sees over 4,500 vehicles each day. The infographic also highlights some of our most photogenic visitors captured on remote camera during biodiversity monitoring.
Over 2024–2025, we monitored six proposed road enhancement sites using autonomous recording units (ARUs) and remote cameras to assess multi-species use. ARUs detected several grassland bird species at risk, including Chestnut-collared Longspur, Sprague’s Pipit, Long-billed Curlew, and Ferruginous Hawk, with multiple species present during peak breeding months. These findings show the sites provide important breeding, foraging, and movement habitat, highlighting the need to minimize further fragmentation. Remote cameras confirmed use by a diverse mammal community beyond pronghorn, including coyote, white-tailed and mule deer, badger, and red fox. Seasonal patterns showed peak activity in spring and fall, aligning with migration periods. Daily activity patterns remained consistent regardless of proximity to the highway, suggesting the road influences where animals go more than when they are active. Overall, these sites retain high ecological value despite being adjacent to a major highway. The monitoring results support a multi-species approach to road mitigation that improves pronghorn connectivity while also enhancing habitat function and landscape permeability for the broader prairie wildlife community. Read the full technical report, Biodiversity Monitoring at Pronghorn Enhancement Sites along the TransCanada Highway, today! Pronghorn Xing Team: Alberta Conservation Association, Canadian Wildlife Federation, Miistakis Institute. Thank you to DIALOG Design for creation of the crossing structure design renderings used in the infographic above. Thank you to our project funders:
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