The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to identify the Sublette antelope migration corridor and directed the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to advance in the designation process at its meeting last week in Pinedale.

Game and Fish wildlife managers are now tasked with drafting a biological risk assessment in collaboration with local government, stakeholders and affected landowners. The public will have the opportunity to comment on the assessment. Once completed, the Commission will be asked to vote on whether to recommend a formal designation to the Governor.

“The department is committed to monitoring and considering federal agency actions, including the finalization of Bureau of Land Management’s Sage Grouse Plan amendment and the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. Our timeline for completing the risk assessment may be adjusted to ensure these federal actions are considered in our analysis,” said Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik.

With the identification of the corridor, additional funding opportunities become available for conservation-based projects on private and public lands to treat invasive annual grasses, improve range fences to wildlife-friendly standards and other proactive management actions.

“Identification of corridors allows us to use science to highlight some of the most important pronghorn habitats so that all users can implement practices to conserve these areas,” Nesvik said.

Game and Fish wildlife managers and research partners have collected an unprecedented amount of GPS data from more than 415 individual collared pronghorn from the Sublette herd. The GPS collar data has provided insight into the movements of pronghorn as they migrate from their 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. For some pronghorn, this annual 360-mile round-trip movement represents the longest recorded antelope migration in the West.

Visit the Game and Fish website to learn more about the designation process and view helpful resources.