One of Wyoming's largest fence replacement projects underway

Nic Rogers found six dead pronghorn and five dead mule deer along a 45-mile stretch of fence in mid-August near Pinedale. Alone it doesnt sound like much 11 dead animals in populations of thousands, but the numbers add up, he said.

And their deaths werent pretty.

Most of them caught a leg trying to jump over a fence, or antlers trying to climb under. Then they stayed there until they starved.

The deer herd is already declining, and you have does dying in the fence, he said. You can extrapolate that out to how many fawns wont be produced the next year.

Most importantly, those deaths can be prevented, he said.

Thats why Wyoming Wildlife The Foundation, along with a handful of other groups and individuals and the Bureau of Land Management, started replacing 45 miles of fence recently on crucial pronghorn and mule deer winter range. It is one of the largest fence replacement projects in Wyoming and should be finished by 2015.

About 90 miles of fence cross whats called the Mesa, a swath of land near Pinedale home to one of the largest gas fields in country. Portions of the Sublette mule deer herd and numerous pronghorn populations cross the fence as they move from their summer to winter ranges and back again.

The line of fence is on Bureau of Land Management lands, but is the boundary between BLM operated land and land leased by ranchers. A total of 13 ranches lease the land on the Mesa, and are responsible for maintaining the fences, said Rogers, project coordinator for Wyoming Wildlife The Foundation, a component of the Wyoming Community Foundation.

The problem isnt fence is general; its fence that prevents animals from easily crossing.

Most of the fences were built a century ago. Theyre at varying heights some more than 4 feet off of the ground. Others have bottom wires only 6 inches off of the ground.

View post:
One of Wyoming's largest fence replacement projects underway