A program aimed at easing big-game migration on private land is expanding in the Mountain West.
The federally funded effort to preserve migratory routes that run through private land has been happening in Wyoming since 2022. It then expanded to Colorado and Idaho, and now it’s coming to Utah.
“Keeping big game moving on the landscape, taking away the barriers and keeping quality habitat for them is the overarching goal of the program,” said Angi Bruce, the director of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department.
Bruce said efforts include modifying fences to make it easier for antelope or mule deer to go under or over, creating conservation easements and paying landowners rent to preserve grasslands for up to 15 years..
In Wyoming, Bruce said there’s 20 conservation easements in the program and that over 500,000 acres have seen some benefit from the initiative.
“We have more landowners interested in conservation easements than there is funding for,” she said.
Bruce said people in other western states have also wanted to join the program for years, including Utah. Jackie Byam, state conservationist at Wyoming’s Natural Resources Conservation Service office, said this makes a lot of sense from a “biological and social standpoint.”
“Like most wildlife, big game do not honor man-made geographic boundaries, so the issues we are trying to address don’t stop at the state line,” Byam said via email.
Byam said the program can also help private ranches stay sustainable and profitable. The extra funds can help them fend off threats of development.
Funding comes through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Producers and landowners can apply to the related Grassland Conservation Resource Program to get rent payments for preserving grasslands until May 29.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
