What is more fitting than decorating your vehicle with a license plate that helps keep motorists and our cherished wildlife safe by reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions?

Starting July 1, Montanans can purchase a new specialty license plate that raises funds and awareness for wildlife crossing structures on Montana’s highways. Dedicated wildlife crossing structures such as overpasses or underpasses help animals move safely over or under busy roads, reducing collisions and maintaining important movement and migration routes. Combined with fencing to funnel animals to them and prevent access to the roadway, crossing structures can reduce vehicle collisions with deer, elk, moose and other wildlife by more than 90 percent. Reduced collisions save lives, while also avoiding millions of dollars in vehicle damage, medical bills and other costs. 

The growing traffic volumes on the US-2/BNSF Railway transportation between Columbia Falls and East Glacier is a source of many of these collisions by both vehicles and trains, especially on the stretch between Columbia Falls and West Glacier. There’s growing evidence, too, that where the highway and railway are within 250 meters, animals are reluctant to cross, creating a barrier to wildlife movement.

“This transportation corridor is a high priority for mitigation,” said Peter Metcalf, executive director of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. “A great place to start addressing this problem is to ensure the Montana Department of Transportation includes a crossing structure in it’s Bad Rock Highway Safety Improvement Project.”

The plate features artwork by Kylie Bute, a June 2025 graduate of Gallatin High School in Bozeman who won the Montana Big Game and Wildlife Highway Crossings License Plate Artwork Contest that GTMA helped organize and publicize.  “My passion for art has always been about telling stories, and this design is a way to spread awareness of the importance of wildlife conservation and movement,” Bute said.