On-again, off-again plans to protect habitat used by about 5,000 pronghorn that migrate through the Red Desert and the Golden Triangle region east of Farson are once again off-again.
On Thursday, Gov. Mark Gordon announced that he was moving forward with the next step of the labyrinthine process for designating western Wyoming’s Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor, which began six years ago. But the governor explained that he sought to only protect eight of 10 segments that have been mapped, leaving out the two easternmost areas.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department proposed the same plan in September, trimming off 270,000-plus acres, but that proved unpopular largely because it emanated from the livestock industry. Later that month, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission reversed course, adding the two segments back.
Now Gordon, who’s appointed all the sitting Game and Fish commissioners, has trumped their proposal to designate the corridor in full. Under Wyoming’s migration policy, it’s ultimately the governor who decides whether a route gets designated.
This is the first test of the state’s migration policy, and it’s been a bumpy road that illustrates the difficulty of protecting energy-rich landscapes for wildlife’s sake.
Gordon was not available for an interview on Thursday afternoon.
Game and Fish Commissioner Ken Roberts said it was a “tough” issue, but that he respected the decision.
“I can’t take it personally,” Roberts told WyoFile. “We’re just part of the equation. I’m happy we got the eight [segments].”
Meanwhile, Wyoming Stock Growers Association Executive Vice President Jim Magagna, whose ranch is adjacent to the off-again segments, said that he was pleased. Although he first pushed the idea of trimming the pronghorn herd’s “East of Farson” and Red Desert segments, the plan was later adopted by the Game and Fish Department as its own. At the time, wildlife managers explained their support for leaving off the two segments because there were no “migration bottlenecks” there and threats to the habitat were relatively limited.
“I don’t buy that they did it just because I asked for it,” Magagna told WyoFile. “I think they did it because they did the review, and said that the science justified taking that approach.”
Notably, threats to habitat within the dropped segments may soon change. The Bureau of Land Management currently has a protective “area of critical environmental concern” in place overlapping much of the “East of Farson” segment, but the resource management plan there is being revised on a tight timeline. Concurrently, the oil and gas industry has shown significant interest in leasing ground in the area, including an especially ecologically valuable swath of the sagebrush-steppe biome known as the Golden Triangle.
Wildlife advocacy groups in Wyoming had mixed reactions to Gordon’s announcement. Craig Benjamin, who directs the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said that he appreciated the governor’s decision to pursue the next step in the migration designation process.
“With pronghorn populations down roughly 40% and facing growing pressures on the landscape, it’s important that we work together to designate as much of the corridor as feasible to keep this migration intact,” Benjamin said in a text message.
The Wyoming Outdoor Council’s Meghan Riley struck a starkly different tone: “This decision subverts the will of the people and direction from the [Wyoming Game and Fish Commission] to the detriment of thousands of pronghorn in the Sublette Herd that will now be excluded from this process.”
“We are deeply disappointed with this decision,” she added, “but remain committed to seeing designation advance for the remaining segments of the migration corridor.”
Retired Game and Fish biologist Rich Guenzel was also disheartened by the news, calling it a “political decision” that ignores the herd’s biological needs.
“I would respectfully disagree with the governor on his assessment,” said Guenzel, who personally endowed a pronghorn-specific conservation fund. “I don’t know his rationale, other than they’re not biological.”
Efforts to protect the remaining eight segments of the Sublette Pronghorn Herd’s migration paths still face some hurdles.
Gordon will soon appoint a “local working group” consisting of two representatives of the agriculture industry, two “industrial users” (oil, gas, mining and renewable), two representatives for wildlife, conservation and hunting and a single rep for motorized recreation. Applications to the group are being accepted through Dec. 31.
“The local working group is ultimately charged with reviewing the Game and Fish’s risk assessment, corridor components, potential impacts to socio-economic conditions of the region, conservation opportunities, highway projects, and other factors appropriate to the potential designation,” a press release from Gordon stated.
After the working group’s deliberations, the decision will swing back to Gordon. If he designates the corridor, it’d be the first since Wyoming’s migration policy was revamped in 2019, but he can also kick it back to Game and Fish for refinement or reject it.
On the federal level, there have been efforts to protect the Sublette Pronghorn Herd’s migration paths for a quarter century. In 2008, the Bridger-Teton National Forest amended its forest plan, protecting that portion, and the route earned publicity and was given the moniker “the Path of the Pronghorn.” But its southernmost stretches, which cut through mostly Bureau of Land Management property, ran into political pressure and have remained unprotected ever since.
Shame on Gov. Gordon. He has ignored the will of the people. He should hear from us all. Jim Magagna is not a friend to wildlife preservation. I owned a cattle and hay ranch for 35 years. I do not approve of his positions.
Protect ALL of the Sublette Pronghorn Herd’s migration paths
Our public land belongs to ALL of the American people NOT to a state!
Protect our wilderness and our wildlife
Our public land belongs to the American people, and NOT to those who destroy it to become rich off of America’s public land
AMERICA’S PUBLIC LAND IS NOT FOR SALE IT BELONGS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Wildlife loses to greed! Again. Shame on Wyoming!
I think the Governor’s Office needs to be reminded of the 7 tenants of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation – which has serves us all well for decades:
1) Wildlife as Public Trust Resources
2) Elimination of Markets for Game
3) Allocation of Wildlife by Law
4) Wildlife Should Only be Killed for a Legitimate Purpose
5) Wildlife is Considered an International Resource
6) Science is the Proper Tool for Discharge of Wildlife Policy
7) Democracy of Hunting
Numbers 1 & 6 appear to be especially lacking in this decision.
What bothers me more is the importance of the area where the designations were not approved and this attitude by our states’ political representation that wildlife and public lands mean so little to our residence. From what I’ve witnessed, this is not true. The Wyominginsis Wildlife Federation should be doing what’s best for wildlife and that needs to be their focus, first and foremost. The other sh and mineral groups have enough of their own representation. The people of Wyoming deserve what’s best for wildlife on public lands and I believe the federal policies include wildlife as a driving force when the term multiple use is referred to.
After thinking further I think the NGOs and nonprofits should help decide who is on the future “committee.”
I’m disappointed that the Wyoming Wildlife Federation (WWF) didn’t release a stronger statement regarding Governor Gordon’s removal of two important segments of the proposed Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor. But I’m not surprised given the fact that WWF sided with Magagna, supporting his position that running down and killing predators with snowmobiles is an important tool for the livestock industry in Wyoming!
How sad. The pronghorn is the iconic mammal of Wyoming. They are being stressed to the point of diminishing numbers. History shows that they can be stressed to the point of nearly being eradicated from the state. All one has to do is research the numbers. In 1908 there were only about 4000 in the state. That was due to over hunting and soon it will be due to foolish acts like this.
Governor Gordon’s decision to omit the Red Desert and East of Farson segments is reprehensible given the huge declines in numbers of pronghorn and mule deer in Wyoming. Another prime example Gordon’s capitulation to special interests and Jim Magagna at the expense of our wildlife. I attended the September commission meeting in Lander. There was overwhelming support from the public and the Commission for designation of all 10 segments. Governor Gordon ignored the will and wishes of the Wyoming citizens and the Commissioners. He has some explaining to do!
So disappointed and frustrated that Governor Gordon has subverted Wyoming’s decision to INCLUDE those two integral sections. All 10 sections were unanimously voted on by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission in September. After 4 hours of citizens voicing their support for all 10 sections, it was evident that this was the correct way to help the pronghorn community recover and keep their dedicated migration corridor intact. Political cow-towing to the apparently omnipotent agriculture sector should have no place in this decision. The pronghorn are caught in this political landscape called executive privilege. Now a heavily biased “working group” will further undermine the pronghorn migration corridor’s future.
Elaine
It will just keep shrinking. A little here, a little there, year after year.
Wow is that a heavily biased working group. Five voices for human interests (ag, extraction, motorized rec) and only two for the land and animals. The winners and losers have been decided before the group can even start the conversation.
We, who work with wildlife and wild lands, know that citizen working groups are nothing more than a political way to get “compromises.” Those compromises are always detrimental to wildlife and those who disagree only have to look at what our current political system has done to an agency (Wyoming Game and Fish Department) that was once the envy of many states. If those who know better don’t stand up for wildlife, we might just as well develop another full gas field like the Jonah in the Golden Triangle. For what it’s worth, prior to my time spent in the Jonah and Anticline Interagency Offices, I was all about being politically correct. From the wildlife perspective, it doesn’t work.
remember this as pronghorn continue to struggle in Wyoming.
“I don’t buy that they did it just because I asked for it, Magagna told WyoFile.”
Jim Magagna, modest as ever. Gordon did it because WSGA wanted it. In Wyoming, what WSGA wants, WSGA gets. Usually. Often at the expense of wildlife. Been this way 153 years.
Puzzled Wyoming Wildlife Federation is not formally part of WSGA. Isn’t it time?
the working group makeup stacks the deck 4-2 against wildlife with two ag and two mining interest and just two wildlife interest.
Bid rigging by the Gov.
When you have biologists afraid to speak out for wildlife for fear of being fired, other organizations take over.