30,000 Collisions with Large Wildlife in Montana

When it comes to driving in Montana, running into a beast is oftentimes the nature of the beast. If you drive from one corner of Montana to the other, it's like driving from Chicago to Washington, DC. And most of that is very rural country.

The Big Sky Business Journal featured a recent report that apparently documents the number of collisions involving large animals. Between 2008 and 2020, the report says there were 30,000 reported collisions (which tells you there was probably a lot more).

Big Sky Business Journal: "The Common Ground Project, a nature-based retreat and outdoor experience group, estimates the incidents cost $212 million annually. The project highlighted the dangerous and expensive repercussions of wildlife collisions, identifying 1-90 in Mineral County as a hotspot. Data from a collared grizzly bear attempted to cross the highway 46 times, failing each time due to traffic. Another example is the Paradise Valley, where the 55-mile stretch between Livingston and Yellowstone National Park sees about half of all accidents involving wildlife."

It looks like this report was also featured by The Clark Fork Valley Press and the Mineral Independent.

From that report:

"Anderson pointed to data on his PowerPoint Presentation from I-90 between Drummond and Jens, showing a collared grizzly bear attempted to cross the highway 46 times, failing each time due to traffic. This same corridor has become a deadly zone for elk descending from higher elevations in search of food, water, or mates.

Anderson also highlighted the Montana Wildlife and Transportation Partnership, "which brings together public and private stakeholders to propose and implement wildlife accommodation projects. The goal is to turn ideas into action and foster broad engagement in solving Montana’s wildlife and transportation challenges."

Based on that same article it looks like they are proposing more wildlife overpasses similar to what you would see on Highway 93 between Missoula and Kalispell.

Using data from the Department of Transportation, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Forest Service and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, they identified seven wildlife collision hotspots, with Dome Mountain being the top priority. The proposed solution for that area: two wildlife overpasses within a four-mile stretch of highway.

By the way, since I used this Tommy Boy movie clip screenshot for the photo above, I better add in the video!

LOOK: Here are the states where you are most likely to hit an animal

Hitting an animal while driving is a frightening experience, and this list ranks all 50 states in order of the likelihood of such incidents happening, in addition to providing tips on how to avoid them.

Gallery Credit: Dom DiFurio & Jacob Osborn

Source: 30,000 Collisions with Large Wildlife in Montana

Filed Under: wildlife, Western Montana, Paradise Valley, Newsletter, Social Post