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Show The Park Record A-24 Continued From A-19 Mountain Town News Z D D EXCLUSIVELY AT PARK CITY BLIND & DESIGN Visit our showroom or schedule a FREE in-home consultation today! people were charged $700 each after pleading guilty to entering an area closed to protect Jasper’s dwindling caribou herds. The Fitzhugh noted the fines, if significant, had dropped compared to the $1,500 penalty of those previously found guilty of the same infraction. Nearly four hours to the south, managers of the corridors reserved for wildlife at Canmore, the gateway to Banff National Park, report an “alarming” amount of human use and off-leash dogs. A study conducted with aid of cameras to detect movements in the wildlife corridors revealed that humans constitute 94 percent of the use in the wildlife corridors. John Paczkowski, a wildlife biologist with Alberta Environment and Parks, said he expected the results but was still shocked. Humans, he told the Rocky Mountain Outlook, use the wildlife corridors 20 times more frequently than do wildlife. Dogs were frequently with the humans, and in many cases they were off-leash. The provincial government is now working with Canmore town officials to see if human use can be discouraged through greater enforcement and more effective signs. Many people seem not to understand where the wildlife corridors are located. More express lanes in works for Colorado’s I-70 IDAHO SPRINGS, Colo. — The eastbound express lanes have worked so well on improving traffic flows for Interstate 70 travelers returning to Denver from mountain resorts on weekends that Colorado transportation officials plan to do the same now for traffic going to the mountains on Friday and Saturday mornings. Just two years ago, traffic Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 25-28, 2017 moved along at speeds of 5 to 10 mph during peak periods. After the tolled express lanes were installed at a cost of around $300 million, traffic has sped up to 35 to 40 mph, despite increased volumes, said Joe Mahoney from the Colorado Department of Transportation. The comparisons were cited at a public information meeting covered by the Summit Daily News. A third-party analytics firm found that travel times decreased by 20 to 50 percent during peak hours. State transportation officials say they now want to do the same for west-bound traffic. The plan is still being worked out, but also involves making use of highway shoulders and expanding into adjacent areas in some places. The cost is again expected to be about $300 million. Environmental studies are expected to begin this summer, with construction underway in three years. When not to drone in mountain town skies TELLURIDE, Colo. —Telluride officials are now thinking about drones. The unmanned aircraft systems were used last year to film in the town’s open space called Valley Floor, but they spooked a herd of elk. In nearby Silverton, there was a worse problem. A drone was flown at the starting line of a skijoring event, which spooked a horse, causing it to run into a nearby crowd. Three people were injured. The Telluride Daily Planet reported town councilors are mulling how to get the word out that drones need to be used with common sense with the above and other stories in mind. Lake Tahoe expected to fill for first time in 11 years INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — For the first time in 11 years, Lake Tahoe is expected to fill. That’s no small feat, noted the San Francisco Chronicle, as the lake covers 191 square miles, making it the sixth largest lake in the United States. The lake needs 88 billion gallons of water to rise 2.26 feet to be completely full. Water officials are sure this will happen. Avalanches are leading cause of outdoor deaths in BC WHISTLER, B.C. – A new study in British Columbia found that deaths in the backcountry from 2007-2008 to 2015-2016 had not increased. This was, reported Pique Newsmagazine, despite a substantial increase in use of the backcountry. The newspaper did not report how much backcountry use has increased. In that span, there were 210 fatalities across the province, including at its ski areas. Nearly half were the result of snowmobiling, a third occurred while skiing, and snowboarders accounted for 12 percent. This was not just in the backcountry, but included fatalities at ski areas as well. Avalanches, presumably in the backcountry, were responsible for about 45 percent altogether. The statistics from BC Coroners Service also found that about 90 percent of snowmobilers who died were men, as were about 80 percent of skiers. The median age in both cases was between 40 and 45 years of age. Shipping containers promoted for housing CANMORE, Alberta — Shipping containers such as the ones to transport trinkets from China to retail stores in North America are getting a close look in the Banff-Canmore area for use as cheap housing. Affordability there, as in all resort mountain areas, is a major challenge. The shipping containers are steel cubes of 8 by 40 feet that can be refurbished in ways that make them nice, if not necessarily large, housing. The price for the finished product is $150 to $200 per square foot (Cdn), a developer told the Rocky Mountain Outlook. Chuck Lemieux, owner and president of Blocks Container Structures, said the units can be stacked together rapidly, producing housing in months, not years. “This thing, when it’s done, it will be better insulated (spray foam) and stronger than any house,” he said, “and it’ll be done in six months, start to finish.” Lemieux added the homes can be furnished with recycled materials and outfitted with solar panels. |