The initial components of the Kananaskis Summit Legacy Project are now complete, helping to keep habitat and wildlife populations healthy in the Bow and Kananaskis valleys.

In 2002, Canada hosted the G-8 Summit in Kananaskis Valley, Alberta. As an environmental legacy of the G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Federal Heritage Minister, Sheila Copps, announced a $5-million federal gift that would contribute to the construction of a wildlife bridge over the Rundle Canal in Canmore and the creation of a wildlife ecology chair at the University of Calgary.  

Alberta Ecotrust Foundation was chosen as the financial partner of the wildlife crossing project and in collaboration with the Kananaskis Summit Environmental Legacy Project Team and a local steering committee comprised of representatives from local conservation groups, businesses, and regional, provincial and federal governments. 

The Legacy Project was a huge success and we were able to collectively raise additional funds to build a second wildlife crossing at Dead Man Flat's on the TransCanada Highway.  Money was also secured for several years of monitoring to track the use of the crossings by a variety of species. Several education and human use projects were also undertaken in the region.

Careful planning led to a surplus of just over $190,000 and these dollars were given to Alberta Ecotrust in 2006 by the federal government to manage and invest within the spirit of the original legacy project. In 2008, the Alberta Ecotrust Board of Directors commissioned a study to help determine how these funds should be used. Many members of the original steering committee were consulted as well as conservation groups within the Bow and Kananaskis Valley region. 

An announcement regarding the Alberta Ecotrust plans for this Legacy Fund will be shared in early summer 2010.