• Meeting included stakeholders from southwest Wyoming
Protection of the migrating southwest Wyoming antelope herds was the focus of a day-long session with Wyoming Game & Fish Commission and respective stakeholders in Rock Springs.
Commissioner Kent Connelly represented Lincoln County, in addition to Wyoming Game & Fish Commissioner Ken Roberts of Kemmerer.
Roberts recalled the executive order coming from Gov. Mark Gordon calling for specific measures to protect the herd in southwest Wyoming.
“We’ve got a herd of antelope that actually goes from some clear up into the Grand Tetons all the way down into the Red Desert,” Roberts said of the extensive area covered by the antelope each year.
WG&F reports, “Wyoming is home to important mule deer and antelope migrations, including one of the longest antelope migrations in the continental United States. Each fall the Sublette antelope herd migrates south from summer ranges in the foothills of the Wyoming Range, Bondurant and Jackson Hole areas to lower elevation winter ranges near Pinedale, Green River and Rock Springs to escape the harsh winter conditions.”
The Sublette herd 165 mile migration is considered one of the longest in the U.S.
“That’s an extensive route. It’s amazing,” said Roberts. “These animals are very specific, so we’ve got to actually make sure their routes are protected.”
Roberts noted all parties working together to make the migration routes safe.
He explained the planning and work comes from different sources. “Now the working group, they’re represented by different industries and by different sportsmen and different county commissioners,” he said.
Roberts advised, the groups will create plans to protect the corridors “for future generations.”
A report will be submitted to the Governor with the working group’s findings. “The governor will review it, and then he’ll, designate what he sees fit with taking all the information that he can to make this happen.”
Roberts said Wyoming’s work in wildlife protection and the corridor planning has drawn the support and admiration of other states. “We’re the envy of everyone in the wildlife, if you’ve got the habitat and connectivity, then they’re going to survive,” he said.
Roberts also noted the work of the overpass and underpass operations with fencing on U.S. 189 as protection for wildlife in the region.
Construction started on the $37 million project earlier in Apri. “There’s a lot happening to protect wildlife in Wyoming,” Roberts said, acknowledging protection is coming from everyone in the state.
“This is such a great state and everybody’s involved and everybody’s doing it,” Roberts concluded, “Everybody loves to see their wildlife. That’s why we live here, and that’s why we’re doing it for future generations.”
