World-famous Grizzly 399 was killed by a driver in Wyoming last month, prompting calls to keep bears safe from cars.
But what about grizzlies struck by trains? Some researchers and activists are trying to reduce this often overlooked cause of death for bears.
Since 2008, trains have killed more than 60 grizzlies in recovery zones in northern Montana and Idaho. That’s according to environmental groups, which have sued railway company BNSF to get them to implement more safety measures.
“Methods exist to lessen the chance a train will strike a grizzly bear,” reads the complaint filed in a Montana district court last year.
Nonprofit conservation groups Wildearth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project want the trains to slow down around curves and in canyons. They’ve also called for warning systems with bells and lights.
Such measures have been successful in Canada, according to University of Alberta biologist Colleen Cassady St. Clair. She helped implement a similar system in Banff National Park.
“We were able to show that [the] warning system caused animals to leave the track right-of-way sooner than they did when the warning wasn't provided,” she said.
Train arrivals are detected by vibration sensors, which triggers bells and lights in places where collisions have happened before. She said it’s very similar to warning systems that exist for people at railway crossings.
This all comes as grizzlies wander onto train tracks, lured by spilled grain, among other reasons.
“The railway kills other animals that serve as scavenging opportunities for bears, and the railway provides an easier travel route,” St. Clair said.
The conservationists suing BNSF argue that unsafe tracks prevent grizzlies from expanding their range.
A spokesperson for BNSF said the company doesn’t comment on specific lawsuits, but said it’s working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). This would require the company to implement some safety measures, but still allow for some accidental grizzly deaths.
“U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently requested modifications to that HCP and BNSF is working through potential modifications with its implementing partners,” the company said via email.
A Montana judge has paused the lawsuit while this happens. Pete Frost, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said there could be an update in the weeks ahead.
This all comes as federal agencies consider removing the region’s grizzly bears from the endangered species list as early as January. Whether or not grizzlies have been able to expand their range and become genetically diverse is at the center of that conversation.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
