More thoughtful fence building helps keep critters safe across Northwest

Fences are not natural to wildlife.

Although Northwest critters have lived among fences for more than a century, they still run into them. They snag legs and other body parts on barbed-wire or metal posts. They detour around them and get ambushed by predators, bound over them and collide with vehicles, back away from them and go malnourished as their natural movements for food and cover are cut off.

Birds fly into wire and break their wings or necks.

Wildlife managers are removing as many fences from the landscape as they can to improve safety for wildlife on public lands throughout the region, but they also build fences to protect wildlife habitat from livestock and off-road vehicles.

However, years of research has produced protocols for better barriers.

"We try to make wildlife compatible fences," said Jason Lowe, wildlife biologists for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Spokane District. "In this region, most of the consideration is for deer and sage grouse."

BLM has adopted fencing guidelines from wildlife research conducted throughout the Western states, including specifications on the distance between the wires.

"For example, we have ranges for how high the bottom wire should be off the ground because a lot of times mule deer prefer to go under fences," he said.

The middle two wires are closer together to leave room for a larger space below the top wire, he explained. When deer jump over a fence, a leg sometimes hits the top wire. If the wire bounces and wraps on the next wire, the deer's foot can be snagged as if it were caught in a trap.

"Tight fences are safer than loose wires that tangle more easily," he said.

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More thoughtful fence building helps keep critters safe across Northwest