Dead on the tracks: Train-related Grizzly mortalities rise as solutions stagnate

<p>For decades, the freight trains trundling over Marias Pass toward Glacier National Park and the Great Bear Wilderness along a 206-mile stretch of tracks between Shelby and Trego have posed a threat to the grizzlies living in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bear recovery zone, particularly when a derailment causes a grain spill, or a train-killed deer or livestock carcass draws the bears onto the busy tracks. </p> <p>And for decades, a host of state, federal and tribal wildlife management agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations and conservation groups, have worked with the railroad to mitigate the hazards to threatened and endangered species like grizzlies, with varying degrees of effectiveness.</p> <p>Three years ago, BNSF Railway Company proposed the most comprehensive solution yet when it applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) and <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/FWS-R6-ES-2019-0010-0001">formally submitted a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) </a>outlining measures it would take to reduce train-caused grizzly mortalities in the region.</p> <p>But that hasn't happened yet.</p> <p>With me today is Tristan Scott, the managing editor of the Flathead Beacon newspaper, who’s recently reported on the situation.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>