For cars and critters: CLLC to talk with Big Sky about improving 191 

On Oct. 23 at WMPAC, CLLC will present plans to improve wildlife movement and reduce vehicle collisions 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Next week, Big Sky will be the first of three communities visited by regional leaders working to improve U.S. Highway 191 for wildlife and vehicles between Four Corners and West Yellowstone.  

Last month, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and Montana State University’s Western Transportation Institute released a study with recommendations to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and improve wildlife habitat connectivity on 191, and Montana Highway 64 (Lone Mountain Trail) in Big Sky.   

On Monday, Oct. 23 from 5:45 to 7 p.m., CLLC and WTI will host a “Community Information Session” at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center in Big Sky. Similar events are scheduled in Gallatin Gateway on Nov. 9 and West Yellowstone on Nov. 15. 

“Together with elected officials and public agencies, area communities will determine how to act on the assessment’s findings. If they choose to pursue wildlife accommodation measures, they could apply for federal funding through various programs, including the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program, a competitive grant program continuing through fiscal year 2026,” a Sept. 28 press release stated.   

The US-191/MT-64 Wildlife & Transportation Assessment is summarized in two pages and also available online in 164-page detail. The report outlines 11 “priority sites” for projects to improve driver and wildlife safety, such as wildlife overpasses and underpasses, culverts, animal detection systems, traffic-calming measures and fencing. 

One key finding—using data from a study conducted by Montana Department of Transportation—shows that between Big Sky and Four Corners, wild animals are involved in 24% of all reported crashes. That’s about five times the national average. At this time of year, the carnage is clear on the side of the highway and it’s costly to both vehicle owners and sensitive wildlife populations.  

EBS spoke with Liz Fairbank, road ecologist with CLLC, about the upcoming meetings. Fairbank said this process has been ongoing since 2021, and she described this stage as the kickoff as CLLC finally brings this report to Big Sky, Gallatin Gateway and West Yellowstone. 

‘Many-year’ projects versus ‘low-hanging fruit’ 

The objective driving every stage of the process is to reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions and improve or maintain habitat connectivity for wildlife. Since releasing the report on Sept. 28, CLLC has been getting “really awesome feedback” from excited community members, Fairbank said.  

“We know there’s a lot of people that have been concerned, especially in places like Gateway, about all of the wildlife-vehicle collisions and issues,” Fairbank said.  

She added, however, that a big challenge will be managing expectations—infrastructure work moves at a “pretty glacial pace,” she said. It’s a frustrating reality for the CLLC and other agency partners. 

“The hardest thing right now is gonna be that, you know, none of this stuff is gonna happen tomorrow,” Fairbank said. Fundraising and engineering feasibility studies still lie ahead.  

To keep the community motivated, however, Fairbank pointed out two ways to make an impact now.  

First, for community members wishing to share feedback on U.S. Highway 191, Fairbank suggested formal public comment to Montana Department of Transportation on the website for its recently announced 191 Optimization Plan. Wildlife-related improvements will be included in MDT’s optimization plan, she said.  

Second, community members can also sign up for a 191-focused CLLC email newsletter to stay engaged. 

“People can also feel free to just email us directly with any questions or comments on concerns,” Fairbank added, mentioning a “contact us” page on CLLC’s website. 

It won’t all happen overnight, but Fairbank pointed out some “low-hanging fruit” on the horizon. 

For example, a couple bridges could be reconfigured to provide pathways for wildlife to move underneath. 

“So doing a smaller project like [a] retrofit of an existing structure, maybe adding a little fencing to those, that’s something that could happen in the near term. Whereas something like building a new overpass for wildlife, that’s a many-year proposition,” Fairbank explained.   

She said a few bridges need to replaced anyway, such as Spanish Creek, although that replacement has no defined timeline yet. CLLC is working with MDT to find out what the additional cost would be to build a new bridge in a way that facilitates wildlife movement by increasing vertical clearance below.  

The series of one-time community information sessions are intended to provide information, set expectations and inform communities about how they can stay involved.   

“This is our first chance to get all the findings from the assessment out to the people… Letting people know what our next steps are, and what our process is going to look like over the next few months, and likely, really, over the next few years,” Fairbank said.   

She added, “Ultimately, these projects aren’t going to move forward if there’s not support for them.” 

Fairbank said that when a specific project is formally proposed, the public can help by writing letters of support or committing other types of support. 

“A lot of the federal funding programs require a 20% match. And right now, MDT—to my knowledge—doesn’t have a pot of money set aside to come up with a match. So I think there will ultimately be a big need for public-private partnerships to implement these projects, from a funding perspective,” she said. 

Fairbank said CLLC has been making initial outreach to some organizations. She added that this study was already funded by Big Sky Resort Area District, Yellowstone Club Community Foundation, Moonlight Basin Community Foundation, and others. She hopes that support will continue down the road.  

Fairbank reiterated the need for patience.  

“I know it’s hard, but I think the main message that I hope people can get right now is that it’s going to take time and there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that needs to happen to get to the point where we’re really ready to implement projects,” she said.  

Although too late to meet this November’s application deadline for Montana Wildlife and Transportation Partnership funding, another chance will arise in the spring, Fairbank explained.  

With funding, the next step will be an engineering feasibility study. If a project makes it through those phases, the earliest time frame to apply for federal funding would be 2025—that might be only one or two projects, Fairbank said.  

Most of the top priority sites identified by CLLC are between Gallatin Gateway and just south of Big Sky. Those are areas with highest traffic volumes and most conflict between wildlife movement and traffic, Fairbank explained.  

Possible solutions for those areas will be detailed at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center on Oct. 23 at the free public engagement event.