NEWS

BLM fixes fences to help pronghorn migrations

Karl Puckett
kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com
  • Bottom barbed wire was replaced with smooth wire.
  • Bottom wire raised to 16 inches.
  • Five-and-a-half miles of fence modified.
  • BLM project was along U.S. Highway 2 west of Glasgow.

Abel Guevara, a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Land Management in Glasgow, has watched pronghorn running at top speed slide under a fence and pop up on the other side.

This fence was modified by the Bureau of Land Management last year in a way that allows wildlife such as pronghorn to cross safely.

It's something to see, he said.

"They don't really stop," Guevara said. "It's like a baseball slide."

In February, BLM's Glasgow Field Office modified several miles of fence on both sides of U.S. Highway 2 west of Glasgow to give pronghorn a better chance of a safe slide.

"It's a good project," Guevara said.

Pronghorn antelope usually crawl under fences, rather than jumping over them, he said.

But some types of fences can prevent them from crossing underneath, and barbed wire can grab their backs when they do, he added.

The low, barbed wire scrapes the fur off of the backs of pronghorn, making them susceptible to frostbite and infection, Guevara said. Pronghorn sometimes run back-and-forth for days along fences they can't pass, or get hung up trying to get through, he said.

"It's just a horrible way for an animal to go," Guevara said.

The BLM's recent work modifying the fencing is part of a bigger effort by government land and wildlife management agencies and private groups in northeastern Montana to remove obstacles in east-west running fences that hinder seasonal north-south movements of pronghorn.

"We're looking at it on a landscape level," Guevara said. "It's not just a one-time fix."

Over two weeks last month, BLM wildland firefighters Jason Snellman and Rich Hayner replaced the bottom barbed wire with smooth wire, and raised the fence bottom 16 inches off the ground, on five-and-a-half miles of fencing.

In targeting areas needing improvement, BLM officials relied on their own observations and information from people who lease land for grazing, Guevara said.

They also relied on a pronghorn migration study by Andrew Jakes, a doctoral student who is studying pronghorn migrations between northern Montana and Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Data from pronghorn fitted with GPS radio collars showed significant migration within the Buggy Creek and Chapman coulee areas west of Glasgow. Most fences in the area were five-wire with the bottom barbed wire often no more than 12 inches off the ground.

"We're basically using his data from his project to implement these changes," Guevara said.

Jason Snellman and Rich Hayner unspool smooth wire to replace the bottom row of barbed wire during a fence modification project Feb. 10 near Glasgow. The purpose of the two-week project was to make the fence wildlife friendly for pronghorn antelope, which negotiate fences by crawling under them.

Last year, a Montana Conservation Corps Crew removed a 1.5-mile fence in the Glasgow area. Another two miles of fencing along Highway 2 are scheduled to be modified this summer. Other fences immediately adjacent to the highway will be considered for modification to maintain connectivity across the migration corridor.

In 2013, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks removed old woven wire 14 miles east of Glasgow near Nashua where pronghorn bunched up. That was another location identified in Jakes' study as a barrier to migrating pronghorn. In the harsh winter of 2010-11, hundreds of pronghorn died in the region after being struck by cars, trucks and trains and because of impassable fences and deep snowdrifts.

The Nature Conservancy of Montana has installed remote cameras at its 60,000-acre Matador Ranch in south Phillips County in an effort to document barriers conventional fences pose to wildlife.

Pronghorn can jump, but they usually crawl under fences, Guevara said.

When BLM officials were scouting locations for the recent work, a pronghorn skull was found, left behind from an animal that got hung up on the fence.

"Obviously, we hit the area that really needed to be addressed," Guevara said.

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Karl Puckett at 406-791-1471, 1-800-438-6600 or kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com. Twitter: @GFTrib_KPuckett.