Map from the AWL GIS lab

ast June, two grizzly bear cubs were killed on the southern border of Glacier National Park, when a freight train hit them as they attempted to join their mother on the other side of the tracks. Adjacent to the railroad is Highway 2. According to the Park’s expert carnivore biologist, Dr. John Waller, Highway 2 and the railroad have the potential to become barriers to grizzly bear movement within thirty years if traffic levels continue to increase at current rates.

This highway/railroad combination poses a great threat to grizzly bears and other wildlife being able to travel between Glacier Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness to the south. Together, these well-known wildlands make up an important portion of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem— an international swath of land that encompasses massive peaks, lush valleys, and the cold, clean waters of northwestern Montana, southwest Alberta and southeast British Columbia. To maintain the critical habitat connection between Glacier Park and the wilderness areas to the south, American Wildlands is working with a unique coalition to prevent this highway and railroad from becoming a barrier to wildlife movement in the future.

American Wildlands has joined forces with the Great Northern Environmental Stewardship Area group (GNESA). This group consists of representatives from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway; Flathead National Forest; Glacier National Park; Montana Department of Transportation; Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks; The Flathead Land Trust; and others.

Highway 2 and the railroad slice through the heart of the Crown of the Continent. AWL Photo library.

American Wildlands has taken a lead role in designing a year-long research project to identify where wildlife is crossing Highway 2 and the adjacent railroad. Starting this summer, AWL will work with GNESA to collect and map data that shows where animal/vehicle and animal/train collisions are most likely occurring. We will accomplish this through interviews with railroad engineers, highway workers and landowners who live and work in this area. AWL is also initiating a field project with Glacier National Park to map major wildlife trails in the vicinity of the railroad and highway.

The information we collect will help GNESA determine where it should advocate for the construction of future wildlife crossing structures so wildlife can continue to safely cross the highway and railroad—thus keeping Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness ecologically connected. Ultimately, this data will provide part of the foundation for “making a case” to fund and build one or more wildlife overpasses along Highway 2—much like has been done to the north in Banff National Park.