Most of us bring a healthy dose of personal bias to the opinion section. I’ll admit mine up front: Wyoming’s bountiful wildlife is why I live and raise my kids here, but it can slip away if we take it for granted.
Opinion
Wyoming used to have more pronghorn than people — a real point of pride for many of us. Those days are gone, but we can protect what we have left with Wyoming’s migration corridor executive order. That’s why I’m writing in favor of conserving the Sublette pronghorn migration corridor as the state gathers input through May 2. I’d like nothing more than to see our Game and Fish Commission recommend designation to Gov. Mark Gordon because I want future generations to experience the same awe-inspiring wildlife I have. That’s my take.
But one affected party acts without any bias at all: The pronghorn themselves.
For more than 20 years, pronghorn in the Sublette herd have been studied intensively, becoming one of the most scrutinized ungulate populations in the world. Across the length and breadth of Wyoming’s Green River Valley, biologists have captured and collared hundreds of animals with GPS trackers, logging hundreds of thousands of data points to gain insight into how pronghorn use the landscape.
The detailed picture that’s emerged tells the tale of Wyoming’s longest pronghorn migration. We can trace the pathways pronghorn use to access summer forage and escape harsh winter conditions. We can see the tiny bottlenecks animals must pass through to reach vital habitat and visualize how, over time, ill-placed infrastructure displaces pronghorn from their native ranges. Their responses to habitat fragmentation, fences, and invasive species aren’t in service of an ideology. They travel where they need to go to survive, pure and simple. The map we’re left with can serve as a blueprint for sustaining this massive population of pronghorn, if we can muster the willpower to use it.
Wyoming has done this before. Migration corridors for the Sublette, Platte Valley and Baggs mule deer herds were designated in 2020. Mapping bottleneck, stopover, and high use areas in these corridors signaled a strong commitment from the state to conserve migratory habitat and opened the door for targeted management actions and funding to do so. Now, designation helps guide new development away from the most highly trafficked portions of these migration corridors, clearly mapped out for all to see, while allowing multiple use of public and state land to proceed without irreparably damaging connectivity. We’ve seen firsthand that designation doesn’t keep businesses or industry from making profits, but it does make it easier for our biologists to manage wildlife sustainably, in trust for the public. It’s a system that’s been working for people and mule deer for over five years.
Given heavy losses the Sublette Pronghorn herd sustained two winters ago when the population was nearly halved by punishing snow and cold, designation can’t come soon enough. The forces making it harder for these animals to migrate are relentless and growing, yet population recovery can only occur if linkages between seasonal habitats remain open and passable. Likewise, if we want pronghorn to have a shot at surviving the next big winter that comes our way, the ability to migrate off the high plains to more temperate winter ranges is a must. Designation would give Wyoming the framework it needs to keep these essential pathways open, supporting long-term viability for one the world’s biggest pronghorn herds.
They may have been unaware of the information they were relaying, but with every trip to and from summer range, GPS-collared animals in the Sublette Pronghorn herd made plain what habitat is indispensable for migration. Their needs are unambiguous and unclouded by any motivation beyond basic survival. The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and the governor have a golden opportunity to harness this information, designate this corridor and ensure we don’t lose the state’s longest pronghorn migration. Let’s trust what the pronghorn are telling us and make it happen.
3rd posting attempt.
Human Over-Population has long been preventing wild nature from being restored or even protected in remaining habitats.
The Math does not lie.
In Jan. 2025, the world hit 8.2 Billion humans (16x more people than 400 years ago). Birth and population growth RATES have slowed down since the mid 1960’s, but there were and still are more births than deaths each year, so the population keeps growing higher.
This year (2025), the world will ADD 70 million more humans (equal to adding the COMBINED population of California and Texas in 1 Single Year).
Projections are for the world to peak at 10.3 Billion humans in year 2084 (if we refuse to bend that curve sooner). After 2084, a very slow population decline is projected thru year 2100, ending this century with a still whoppingly huge 10.2 Billion humans (2 Billion more people than today, or 25% more people).
Nature has been under attack for centuries due to rising human numbers and modern living resource demands, and NO modernized nation has ever used less resources even when (or if) its population stabilized.
The U.S. has 345 million people (4.1% of global population) but still slowly rising. The U.S. uses 25% of global resources used by people, meaning that the U.S. has impacts of an average nation of 2 Billion people, more than India, China, or all of Africa. Thus, the U.S. is grossly over-populated for the manner in which we live (both modern lifestyles and wasteful too).
If you want wild nature to thrive and to be restored, then wild nature needs space too (and water). Choose to have Zero to 1 child per couple and adopt the rest. Choose politicians who will enforce financial incentives for very small families and heavily tax those who opt to have more than 2 children per couple. A phase out of child tax credits per child born is essential but should not reduce those credits for children already born prior to passage of new laws).
Know the Facts.
Search: Worldometers Population Projections thru year 2100.
Search: Worldometers Global Population (look at the chart).
Search: Worldometers Global Population by year (current and past info)
It is so important to establish and save Pronghorn and other wildlife migration corridors for Wyoming’s current and future generations to know Wyoming’s legacy of protecting and maintaining habitat for wildlife. I have lived and loved it and want.my grandchildren to have the same chance.
Thank you, Meghan. I hope we can all convince the Wyoming Game and Fish and the Governor that DESIGNATION would be a huge player in getting the pronghorn herd on the road to recovery after the devastation we observed two years ago. Wyoming doesn’t feel like Wyoming any more when I drive from Pinedale to Rock Springs and can actually count the pronghorn or not even see one.
Thanks to Meghan Riley for these wonderful words on what is one of the most important landscapes for pronghorn in the world. Portions of the Sublette pronghorn herd migrate nearly 165 miles from summer to winter ranges and back in a year’s time. The ability of them to do that in a mostly unobstructed manner is vital for their survival. We should encourage all our friends who care about wildlife and the uniquely important pronghorn species to write the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission in support of designation of the Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor.
thank you Meghan, I agree. If Wyoming does not protect this herd it will be sad and devastating. Population growth and energy extraction has directly impacted wildlife in a negative way, that cannot be denied. Considering these two things are not going to change WE NEED to change and put in strong processes to protect wildlife and wilderness. Also, contact your reps and tell NOT to SELL PUBLIC LAND!