Committee advances bill to create Montana wildlife crossings fund and specialty license plate

Representative Katie Zolnikov, sponsor of House Bill 855, told the House Transportation Committee she is proposing a new state special revenue account to support construction of wildlife highway crossings and associated accommodations. The account would be housed at the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the bill authorizes the FWP Commission to create a specialty license plate whose purchasers would pay a $20 donation to that account.

The bill matters because thousands of large wild animals are struck by vehicles in Montana each year, witnesses told the committee, producing public-safety risks, vehicle damage and impacts on wildlife populations. Representative Zolnikov said the account is designed to provide seed money that can be used to match federal grants and to allow the Montana Department of Transportation to use the funds for qualifying crossing projects.

Montana Department of Transportation Director Chris Dorrington, appearing as an informational witness, described the costs and constraints involved in building wildlife accommodations. He said simple underpasses typically cost between $500,000 and $2,000,000, while simple overpasses can range from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000 and that costs rise on multi-lane facilities. “MDT cannot meet future accommodation needs just with the current funding in place,” Dorrington said, urging the committee to consider mechanisms that allow the public to support wildlife accommodations.

Conservation groups and stakeholders provided consistent support at the hearing. Ryan Chapin, Montana field manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said crossings include not only large overpasses but also fencing, underpasses and “jump-outs,” and that dedicated funding would help the state complete projects where they are most needed. Kylie Paul, a road ecologist with the Center for Large Landscape, cited research she said shows crossings with fencing can reduce collisions by roughly 80 percent, and she called a specialty plate a “useful revenue stream and educational component.”

Other supporters included the National Wildlife Federation and the Montanans for Safe Wildlife Passage coalition (represented by Simon Buzzard), the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (Charlie Booher), the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (Tyson, representing the association), the Montana Contractors Association, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the Montana Environmental Information Center and the Gallatin Wildlife Association. Nick Calera of the Pew Charitable Trusts described a regional trend: several Western states recently have created similar dedicated accounts and used them to leverage federal grants.

Committee members asked technical questions about what federal funds could match and how MDT evaluates projects. Dustin Rouse, chief engineer at MDT, explained that benefit-cost analyses sometimes make wildlife-specific crossings difficult to fund from federal safety or project funds alone because the benefits are localized; the department will include wildlife features when they align with roadway projects but standalone wildlife-only projects often face tougher funding competition.

Representative Zolnikov said the bill also includes a $100 annual statutory appropriation into the new account; sponsors described the license plate as a voluntary revenue source that would be available to motorists who choose it. After the hearing the House Transportation Committee placed HB 855 on the committee’s executive action agenda and later reported the bill to the House floor.

The bill’s next steps: HB 855 passed out of the House Transportation Committee and will be scheduled for consideration on the House floor.