Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation

Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation News

Wildlife Foundation Receives 1% for the Tetons Grant for Nature Mapping

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation received a grant for $11,500 from 1% for the Tetons to support its collaborative efforts with the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund to establish Nature Mapping Jackson Hole. The Wildlife Foundation was one of eight organizations receiving a 2009 grant from 1% for the Tetons. The Nature Mapping program will engage our community in documenting the wildlife and environmental features of the Jackson Hole area and increase the existing knowledge base about wildlife presence, habits, migration and threats. Nature Mapping is establishing an online system consisting of a website, database and GIS interface, and teaching people how to document the presence of wildlife in the community and enter their observations into this online system. Watch this site for information about upcoming trainings or visit the Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund for more information.

Successful Red Rock Rance Fence Pull

THANK YOU! Over twenty-five volunteers including two US Forest Service fire-fighting crews showed up to help with a large fencing project on Red Rock Ranch on August 15. We removed a second strand of barbed wire on a fence enclosing a 160 acre Pronghorn grazing and migration area and replaced it with smooth wire so Pronghorn are not injured when they go under the wire. Altogether, we will be took down two miles of barbed wire fence and strung two miles of smooth wire. This was a big job and we offer a huge thank you to Dale Dieter, Jackson District Ranger, Bridger Teton National Forest and his fire fighting crews.

Moving and Successful Fence Pull

Seventeen volunteers and a mule named Silas arrived at the Red Rock Ranch early Saturday morning to pull the bottom wire from a four strand barbed wire fence enclosing 160 acres of prime Pronghorn grazing land. The fence also served as a barrier across an important part of the Pronghorn migration route through the Gros Ventre. We dedicated this very important fence pull in the memory of Pat Miles, a longtime volunteer with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation who rarely missed a fence removal project. Our reasons for doing this work were driven home Saturday morning when we arrived to find an Elk calf fatally entangled in the bottom wire of the fence we were about to remove.

Removal of this wire was the highest priority fence removal project for the Bridger Teton National Forest and the culmination of several years of work carefully documenting use of the land by Pronghorn for grazing and migration. The success of the project was a testament to the openness of the land owner, diligent work by staff at the Bridger Teton National Forest, particularly Jackson District Ranger Dale Dieter, and many volunteers with the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation.

After five hours, we had pulled, dragged, wound and baled two miles of barbed wire, opening up this area so Pronghorn can now easily move under the fence into the grazing area and beyond as they migrate into Jackson Hole. Some great pictures from the day are posted on the JHWF Facebook page and for those who are not on Facebook, you can take a look at the pictures on our Flickr site. Click here or click on the Flickr link at the bottom of this page.

We have at least two more fence removal projects this summer, one on August 15 and another on September 19.

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