Yet another grizzly bear has died after being hit by a vehicle on US Highway 2 along the southern boundary of Glacier National Park.

Staff from Glacier Two-Medicine Alliance found the bear in the barrow ditch near mile marker 202 just east of the False Summit trailhead on the morning of October 15th and reported it to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. FWP bear specialist David Kemp estimated the young female to be between three and four years of age. She had a broken shoulder and other internal injuries consistent with a vehicle collision. She had likely died a few days earlier based on the condition of the carcass, which had been partially scavenged.

A local landowner said he’d seen the bear near his property recently. He recalled a bear matching its description traveling with a sow north of the highway in Glacier National Park this spring.

The young bear is the second young female known to have died in this area this year after a BNSF freight train struck and killed another young female grizzly bear in June. That strike followed soon after BNSF reported another potential bear strike in the area, although an investigation was unable to confirm whether a bear had actually been hit in that incident.

A DEADLY CORRIDOR FOR GRIZZLY BEARS AND OTHER WILDLIFE

This stretch of US Highway 2 and the adjacent BNSF railway between East Glacier Park and Columbia Falls is one of the deadliest transportation corridors in Montana for grizzly bears. The two latest confirmed fatalities raise the number of grizzly bears that have died from collisions with trains or vehicles in this corridor since 2004 to 39, according to information compiled by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. That is more than double the number of bears that have died in this corridor from all other sources of human-caused mortality combined during this same period.

And it's not just grizzly bears that die along this highway and railway in alarming numbers. Hundreds of animals die along this stretch of highway annually, mostly whitetail deer but also mule deer, elk, black bears, moose and foxes, to name a few of the more common victims (no estimate for the number of small animals nor the number of animals hit by trains is available). In 2023, both a female wolverine and a male Canada lynx were hit and killed, both of which, like grizzly bears, are a federally protected species where each individual is critical to the species recovery.

Cattle and horses are also hit with some regularity, especially in the area of US 2 immediately west of East Glacier Park. These collisions have resulted in significant human injury in some cases, according to the East Glacier Volunteer Fire Department. They also attract scavengers, which can then be hit themselves. In 2020, for example, two male grizzly bears, each estimated to be about 20 years of age, were struck and killed in separate incidents when scavenging a roadkill horse barely a stone’s throw from where the latest young grizzly died in October.

THE NEED TO IMPROVE SAFE WILDLIFE PASSAGE

The young grizzly bear's death, like that of each carcass strewn along US 2, is a reminder that we can, and should, do more to prevent such deaths and help wildlife move safely across the highway and railway between Glacier National Park and national forest lands to the south, including the Badger-Two Medicine. Reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions and improving connectivity in this corridor is particularly critical to the continued recovery and long-term persistence of grizzly bears, wolverines, and lynx, in addition to the benefits for conservation of more common species like mountain goats, deer, elk and black bears. It will also prevent injury or death to motorists, and save millions of dollars annually in property damage and insurance costs.

Many conservationists and wildlife biologists have long advocated for wildlife crossing structures or other mitigation measures, such as reduced speed for trains and vehicles, that facilitate safer movement for wildlife in this corridor. Similar projects are underway elsewhere in Montana and the northern Rockies. Most notably, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes secured funding this summer to complete additional overpasses and underpasses along US 93 across the Flathead Reservation. Planning for wildlife crossing structures is well underway for parts of I-90 outside of Missoula, or US 89 and 191 near Yellowstone. Just north of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Canada, a similar project is underway to build two purpose-built underpasses, six retrofitted bridges, and a 75 meter (247.5 feet) overpass across two lanes of traffic and a railway line in a critical wildlife corridor.

HOW TO HELP

Concerned citizens have flooded our office with inquiries about how to help since we first announced the young grizzly’s death on social media. Here are four things you can do to help make this highway safer for wildlife, and people:

1. Slow down when you drive US 2, or anywhere wildlife may be present, especially at dawn and dusk. Speed is a leading factor behind most wildlife-vehicle collisions.
2. Report wildlife observations in the corridor (dead or alive) with our easy-to use smart phone app. This data will inform future mitigation planning and projects, like where to site future wildlife crossing structures. Learn More.
3. Tell your state legislator that you want the Montana Department of Transportation to place a greater priority on improving safe passage for wildlife across US 2 and other key highways in Montana. More dedicated funding for wildlife crossing structures and other mitigation measures is also needed.
4. Make a donation in her honor to support our connectivity work across the Central Crown.

GTMA’s Ashley Sherburne contributed to this report.