January 6, 2026. EcoCentric

Looking at roads and animals and safety from road kill

Landslides and safety concerns from unsafe roads in BC.

Local fight just to get one local trail closed to traffic

LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD JANUARY 6 2026 ECOCENTRIC
3 minutes: Jochen Jaeger or preventing road kil
21:20 minutes: Peter Wood on logging road safety
39:50 minutes: Lorna Visser on getting a trail closed to traffic

Roads, from freeways all the way down to old logging trails, cumulatively have a massive environmental footprint. BC alone has something like 700,000 km of roads carving up the entire province. This week co-host Solita Works zeros in on roads.

Dr. Jochen Jaeger, Professor of Geography, Planning and Environment at Concordia University in Montreal talks about road impact on animals. His research looks at ways for protecting wildlife from traffic.

Dr. Peter Wood, teaches in the Department of Forest Resources Management at UBC. His research on the hazards of logging roads helped highlight the logging road failure that resulted in the deadly landslide on Highway 99 near Pemberton in 2021.

Lorna Visser from the Haven Foundation of Ecology in the Slocan Valley talks about how hard it was just to get a road closed to traffic in the S’nk M’ip Sanctuary at the north end of Slocan Lake.

LINKS MENTIONED

The Conservation website on Roadkill:
https://theconversation.com/wildlife-can-be-saved-from-becoming-roadkill-with-a-new-tool-that-finds-the-best-locations-for-fences-147153  

Citizens science: reporting sightings of road kill for research. Apps where you can file reports:
iNaturalist, Carapace. Zooniverse, Project Roadkill, Roadkill Reports, The Road Lab, CYROS

CBC Report on deadly BC 2021 landslide
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/logging-risk-landslides-1.6279404

Petition to protect Bonnington/Beasely Falls Creek Watershed
https://www.friendsoffallscreek.ca/petition

Story of closing a trail to traffic at S’nk Miip Marsh Sanctuary,
https://www.valhallafoundationforecology.org/post/tough-talk-about-roads-and-how-we-de-motorized-one