Part two:
View part one here
Montana’s US 93 upgrade provides positive outcomes from many perspectives. For the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) of the Flathead Nation, it comes in the form of increased protection for the local environment from an expanding transportation system. For the Montana Department of Transportation and the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, the positive outcomes are driver safety and fewer collisions on the roadway. However, the unintended positive outcomes of the project were the community building and cross-agency collaboration that resulted from seeking solutions together.
As communities expand into natural areas that haven’t been exposed to transportation, the need for “functional road design” requires function not just for the people traveling on the roadways, but the ecosystems that roadways pass through. Context sensitive design, where the highway is designed to fit the landscape it’s built within, may not have occurred for US 93 without collaboration with the CSKT’s Tribal Wildlife Management Program. U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, praised the willingness for teams to work together noting it was critical to the project’s success due to the unique terrain knowledge collected by CSKT. Sue explained that the data scientists received from the CSKT and Montana Department of Transportation on where collisions with grizzly bears occurred was crucial to determining where the wildlife crossing should be specifically positioned. It contributed to flexibility in the design, incorporating fencing, characteristics of the roadway, and the crossings into a toolbox of methods analyzed for this unique span of the highway.
It was hard to not be lit by Sue’s enthusiasm about being a part of something gaining national focus. The idea of working cooperatively with the landscape rather than opposing it is gaining traction, as more transportation options at state and national levels are prioritizing permeability to wildlife. Working together is a recurring theme, as Buttigieg visited Montana in May of 2024 to bring light to the project and praise the collaborative nature of the teams working to balance nature and human infrastructure. The techniques for collaboration across so many groups and individuals included having a point contact for sharing data with the larger team, Sue described. The process was open, streamlined, and positive, with involvement from tribal, federal, and state biologists.
Future project potential lies in the route south. Sue assessed wetland and wildlife habitat for a corridor study led by Robert Peccia and Associates (RPA) on US 93 south of Missoula to determine long-term solutions for the corridor that may recommend significant changes to the roadway character; however, construction wouldn’t begin for several years. Unsure how Herrera may be involved in the future, as a biologist, she knows the impact for improvement in that direction is substantial. Montana Department of Transportation agrees but had to table the pursuit of improvements in 2008 until funding could be secured for the southern span. While conversations continue about grant funding and future studies, she hopes for more involvement in solutions as the issue of intermingling environment and transportation grows in urgency.
Sue gave a nod to two of Herrera’s values when viewing them through the lens of the US 93 project. The first, “treat everyone with respect and dignity, period.” She saw respect not just between collaborators working to improve the highway, but respect for the land and nature. Second, and needing no real explanation, “act as stewards of the environment upon which we depend.” Herrera can speak to the understanding, communication, and flexibility necessary to work together to see restorative outcomes in our communities and natural spaces.
Grizzly cubs captured on a trail Cam. Image courtesy of Mission Valley Montana Grizz Cam.
Griz-40’s story didn’t end with her early morning demise. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) had captured and collared her twice in her lifetime, providing valuable additional data to give more support to the data provided by CSKT. At the time she was first collared in 2001, scientists estimated she was born in 1995, based on samples they collected. Some of these included her DNA. Through this information, FWP has been able to identify nine bears in the corridor as her offspring and an additional 11 identified “grand-cubs”. While this provides a glimmer of hope knowing her lineage persists, it also highlights how large an impact the loss of one matriarch can have on the species. Without her time in the ecosystem, we would be short at minimum 20 other bears.
Contributor: Sue Wall, PWS
