(Lander, WY) – On June 12th, hunters and anglers showed up in caravans armed with fencing pliers and gloves, the conservationist equivalent of torches and pitchforks, to rid the landscape of downed fencing on the edge of the Kendall Valley outside of Pinedale.
The downed barbed wire on the edge of the Bridger-Teton National Forest is a hindrance to movements of ungulates, like the high-country antelope populations, moose locals, and mule deer who migrate from the alpine near Tosi Creek to the sagebrush, some spending time in the Red Desert. To get there, however, they face many barriers like roadways, fences, and subdivisions. Volunteers removed over a mile of 3-strand, unused, and entangled barbed wire to make travel a little easier for wildlife.
The Wyoming Wildlife Federation coordinated with the National Forest, Wyoming Game and Fish, and local landowners to pull these fences on the edge of the forest. A resident of the Kendall Valley, Rob Tolley, and his wife Nancy said they worked with over 30 landowners to allow passage through property and access to areas to pull fence along the National Forest.
The fence removal day was part of a larger effort between multiple nonprofit organizations further up the mountain, as well.
Rob is an avid angler who purchased property along the Upper Green River so he could enjoy the high-quality fishing and wildlife watching opportunities this area offers. “During migration, we can sit on our porch and watch over 60 antelope walk by at a time.” These antelope head to the high country near Union Pass to spend their summers in the sagebrush flats at over 9,000 feet.
He also noted how moose will winter near the river, and calve on the edge of the timber where much of the downed wire was woven by time in between stands of aspen and cottonwood trees.
“I’ve seen mommas bringing their calves to the water, but never from the willows up, so they must primarily have their babies up in the woods,” Rob said on Saturday.
There were two major volunteer groups working on Saturday to clean up the landscape. There were over two dozen volunteers including SOS Well Services workers, members of the newly formed Winter Range Foundation, and passionate hunters from Kemmerer to Jackson who attended. More volunteers were organized in another project area nearby with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.
“We often work on long-term policy and legislation to help the future of Wyoming’s wildlife, and that’s what makes these kinds of projects so fun,” says Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Executive Director, Dwayne Meadows. “We gathered a few people and in just a short time volunteers made a major impact on the habitat and future wildlife moving through there.”
The Federation will continue hosting habitat improvement projects throughout the summer, including a Shoshone National Forest fence removal project near Dubois on July 24th, 2021.
If you have a habitat improvement project you would like the Wyoming Wildlife Federation to organize, please contact habitat coordinator Sam Lockwood at [email protected].