Road Ecology Protocols: Procedures for Incorporating Road Mitigation Measures into Toronto's Infrastructure Operations

The document, City of Toronto Wildlife Crossing Protocol: An Integrated Planning Approach to Amphibian and Reptile Ecopassages (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol) presents a strategic planning framework for the City of Toronto to integrate wildlife mobility needs into its transportation operations. The Protocol also serves an underlying purpose of elucidating the role of environmental planning in challenging the limited rhetoric on human-focused land use and transportation planning at the municipal level. Since 2011, my culminating efforts to integrate transportation and wildlife conservation, in my capacity as graduate intern with the City of Toronto's Environmental Planning Section, have spawned a multitude of important outcomes such as the establishment of interdivisional and interagency collaborative partnerships, and the actualization of successful implementation of the Protocol in a road resurfacing project.

This report describes the process through which this Protocol was developed, as well as the influential outcomes of the effort. I also use this opportunity to share my own thoughts on how planning for wildlife mitigation fares beneath the weight of the City's Planning regime, and simultaneously offer my recommendations for implementing wildlife crossings in Toronto, based solely on personal observations and experiences acquired during my time at the City.

This report is divided into three distinct parts. Part one presents a short literature review that highlights some of the key discussions and opinions pertaining to roads and wildlife. Part two gives an account of the events that led me to the research project, and includes an overview of the innovative tools and methods that were developed to help realize the project's overall goals and objectives. And finally, my reflections and analysis piece is devoted to the third part of this report.