Impacts of backcountry recreation on wildlife in Mount Robson Provincial Park

Impacts of backcountry recreation on wildlife in Mount Robson Provincial Park

The Berg Lake Trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park attracts around 115,000 hikers each year, with 1000 hikers using the trail each day during peak season. Following flooding events in 2021, the trail was closed for repairs and is set to slowly re-open in three stages from 2023 to 2025. The closure and reopening of this high-traffic trail present a unique opportunity to monitor wildlife in the presence and absence of recreational pressures. In July 2023, 42 camera traps were deployed on and around over 50 kilometers of the Berg Lake and adjacent backcountry trails. The goal of this project is to assess mammal responses to a gradient of recreation levels as the trail reopens in order to provide insight on human-wildlife coexistence in the backcountry.