Governor issues draft of migration corridor executive order

Posted 1/7/20

Gov. Mark Gordon has issued a draft of his pending executive order on migration corridors, signaling his intent to make pronghorn and mule deer habitat a priority.

“My goal with this …

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Governor issues draft of migration corridor executive order

Elk move down from high altitudes in the mountains north of Powell to farm fields and lower elevation areas just west of Powell along Avenue E near Road 18 most winters. While it’s a commonly known route, it would take a three-year study to have their area designated as a migration route.
Elk move down from high altitudes in the mountains north of Powell to farm fields and lower elevation areas just west of Powell along Avenue E near Road 18 most winters. While it’s a commonly known route, it would take a three-year study to have their area designated as a migration route.
Tribune photo by Mark Davis
Posted

Gov. Mark Gordon has issued a draft of his pending executive order on migration corridors, signaling his intent to make pronghorn and mule deer habitat a priority.

“My goal with this Executive Order is to identify solutions that would both protect our wildlife and support our economy through the multiple-use of public and state lands,” Gordon said in a statement.

Wyoming is home to the longest intact mule deer and pronghorn antelope migration corridors in the world — much of them on private land. The draft order specifies all future permits issued will keep designated corridors in mind. It also says agencies such as the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Department of Transportation and Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust “shall plan and engineer state and federal highway and associated projects that intersect designated migration corridors to avoid, minimize and mitigate vehicle/wildlife collisions, facilitate big game movement, and support migration connectivity. WYDOT shall include opportunities to address wildlife/roadway infrastructure projects in its annual planning efforts.”

The draft follows closely the work of Gordon’s migration corridor advisory group, comprised of representatives from stakeholders, including extractive industries, conservation, hunting and private landowners. Originally, the group was tasked with thinking about all migrating ungulates, but the executive order only addresses pronghorn and mule deer — the two species at greatest risk, said Kathy Lichtendahl, a Clark resident who represented conservation interests on the board.

“The [draft order] seems to do a good job of following the intentions of our recommendations,” Lichtendahl said of the two-page document. “It is much briefer in length than I expected and I am still trying to decide if that is a good thing or not.”

The explanation given to the advisory board was that Gov. Gordon wanted to ensure that if any changes need to be made, the appendices attached to the final order — which currently total about 12 pages — could simply be tweaked rather than restructuring the entire order.

The draft doesn’t identify any corridors in Park County, but identifies a process to designate new corridors and organizes local working groups to help. While Lichtendahl believes WYDOT projects are in line with the proposals, she doubts residents in Park County will see any changes in the near future.

“Whether or not there is any effect in this part of the state will depend on funding,” she said. “Eventually I believe we will have structures in place in this region that will help with protecting migrating animals and preventing accidents, but the areas with greater numbers of migrating animals and heavier traffic will most likely get funding before we do.”

A minimum of three years of research on a herd’s migration patterns — which includes the collaring of a representative sample of animals from the herd — is necessary for a corridor to be considered for designation. The Game and Fish recently started a three-year research project on the Carter Mountain herd of pronghorn. Last November, Game and Fish biologists began employing a helicopter to catch individuals between Cody and Meeteetse, dropping nets from the cockpit of the aircraft to immobilize each antelope before doing tests and installing a GPS collar. The effort is being paid for in part by funding made available by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

As always, the devil will be in the details, Lichtendahl said.

“There are no designated corridors in this area at the present time, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t here,” she said. “The studies need to be done, data collected and the process initiated to ensure the protection of our herds before it is too late. The time between corridor identification and designation will be critical. The real test will be what happens when [Game and Fish] identifies an area and the governor appoints a local working group to assist in recommending management of the corridor.”

One of Lichtendahl’s biggest concerns as the advisory board looks to protect area wildlife herds is recent lease sales in Park County — especially in light of the recent discoveries of chronic wasting disease. “Although our herd numbers might not be huge, the animals we do have in this region are under threat from so many directions: disease, loss of habitat, fencing and other barriers, changing climate and predators, to name just a few,” she said.

In his statement, Gordon thanked the advisory group for “working collaboratively to deliver a strong and balanced set of recommendations which have been incorporated into this draft.”

The advisory group met three times in 2019 and included representatives from the oil and gas, mining, and agriculture sectors, as well as conservation, recreation and sportsmen groups and a county commissioner. A final version of the order is expected to be issued early this year. A copy of the draft Executive Order can be found on the governor’s site at https://governor.wyo.gov/. Feedback can be emailed to renny.mackay@wyo.gov.

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