After the death of Grizzly 399, also known as the “Queen of the Tetons,” following a vehicle collision outside Grand Teton National Park in 2024, researchers at the University of Montana have begun to study how signage in the park and wider areas can reduce bear mortalities by influencing driver behavior.
Miranda Foster, a UM graduate student in Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management, led the work in the field.
“A lot of the time signs are like Band-Aids. They address the need when it arises. But you’re not reaching the full potential audience without using design.” – Miranda Foster
Will Rice, UM assistant professor of outdoor recreation and wildland management at the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, brought in longtime collaborator Jeremy Shellhorn, a professor of design at the University of Kansas, to elevate the design aspect of the research.
“In our field, people have been studying signage for a long time. But they’ve really just focused on the words and not how those words are presented.” – Will Rice
The team created an experiment to determine which messages and signage designs had the largest effect on reducing vehicle speeds through a known grizzly bear corridor, placing the signs where drivers would see it as they initially entered the corridor. A vehicle classifier used to monitor traffic flow, was placed 100 meters past the sign to measure the vehicle’s speed, the type of vehicle and other metrics. An additional classifier was placed at the end of the 3.7 km corridor.
Together the classifiers allowed researchers to measure the initial impact of the sign on drivers and see if they kept the slower speed throughout the corridor. Rice, Foster, and Shellhorn used the data to produce several composite signs based on the most effective designs in the study and all were well received by the National Park Service and other agencies.
“Art and design are incredibly influential in our daily lives. They’ve been shown to improve our capacity for learning and create bridges between language and cultural barriers. To fail to utilize that tool in management would be a waste.” – Miranda Foster
