Motion-detection cameras are a cost-effective and non-invasive tool used in Banff National Park for sampling mammal populations and estimating species occurrence. Occupancy modelling, which uses detection/non-detection data from cameras, provides a useful and flexible framework for population trend analyses. Data are collected throughout the year across Banff National Park to determine change in the distribution of key animal populations as well as supporting demographic predictions to better inform management.

This Alberta Official Statistic describes the proportion of population based on language spoken most often at home in each economic region as reported in the 2011 population census. Alberta is divided into eight economic regions as follows: Lethbridge – Medicine -Hat; Camrose-Drumheller; Calgary; Banff – Jasper – Rocky Mountain House; Red Deer; Edmonton; Athabasca – Grande Prairie – Peace River; and Wood Buffalo – Cold Lake.

*Our models did not vary with time; therefore they produced identical estimates for 2006–2007 and 2007–2008.

Presents detailed demographic and socio-economic information for the Provincial Electoral Division of Banff-Kananaskis for the 2023 provincial general election. Data have been specifically tabulated from the 2021 Census of Canada and include age, gender, marital status, household types and family structure, language, Indigenous identity, immigrant population, visible minorities, religion, mobility, dwelling characteristics, education, labour force activity and income. A map of the electoral division is included.

This dataset shows the locations of westslope cutthroat trout of non-stocked pure strain populations with average DNA purity ≥ 0.99%. This species is listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act.

The Ya Ha Tinda Elk project is now amongst the longest running elk research project in the world. Initiated in 2000, the Ya Ha Tinda elk project is the result of a collaboration between University of Alberta, University of Montana, Parks Canada, and Alberta Environment and Parks, Fish and Wildlife Division. While early studies in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s lead by Dr. Luigi Morgantini laid the foundation for our latter studies (Morgantini and Hudson 1988), there was a ~ 20-year gap in active research on Alberta’s most important elk population. Initiated at first because of questions regarding the changing migratory dynamics of the migratory Ya Ha Tinda elk population, the project has since evolved into North America’s longest running wild, free-ranging elk research projects focused on fundamental and applied research.

The Ya Ha Tinda is one of Alberta’s most pristine montane rough fescue winter ranges and elk which provides the habitat foundation for one of Cana...

Migration is an adaptive life-history strategy that helps individuals across taxa maximize fitness by obtaining forage and avoiding predation risk. The mechanisms driving migratory changes are poorly understood, and links between migratory behavior, space use, and demographic consequences are rare. Here, we use a nearly 20-year record of individual-based monitoring of elk (Cervus canadensis) to test hypotheses for changing patterns of migration in a large herbivore, elk (Cervus canadensis), in and adjacent to a large protected area in Banff National Park (BNP), Canada. We test whether bottom-up (forage quality) or top-down (predation risk) factors explained trends in i) the proportion of individuals using 5 different migratory tactics, ii) differences in survival rates of migratory tactics during migration and whilst on summer ranges, iii) cause-specific mortality by wolves and grizzly bears, and iv) population abundance. We found dramatic shifts in migration consistent with behavioral plasticity in individual choice of annual migratory routes. Shifts were inconsistent with exposure to the bottom-up benefits of migration. Instead, exposure to landscape gradients in predation risk caused by exploitation outside the protected area drove migratory shifts. Carnivore exploitation outside the protected area led to higher survival rates for female elk remaining resident or migrating outside the protected area. Cause-specific mortality aligned with exposure to predation risk along migratory routes and summer ranges. Wolf predation risk was higher on migratory routes than summer ranges of montane-migrant tactics, but wolf predation risk traded-off with heightened risk from grizzly bears on summer ranges. A novel eastern migrant tactic emerged following a large forest fire that enhanced forage in an area with lower predation risk outside of the protected area. The changes in migratory behavior translated to population abundance, where abundance of the montane-migratory tactics declined over time. The presence of diverse migratory life histories maintained a higher total population abundance than would have been the case with one migratory tactic in the population. Our study demonstrates the complex ways in which migratory populations change over time through behavioral plasticity and associated demographic consequences because of individuals balancing predation risk and forage trade-offs.