Colorado’s wildlife encounters many barriers and obstacles when moving across the landscape. Migration corridors for deer, elk, and pronghorn are disrupted by roads, urban development, as well as recreation trails. Although we may be able to improve these obstacles for wildlife movement, they will remain significant impediments to wildlife for years to come. But there are some direct actions we can take to dramatically improve wildlife movement in areas that are more-or-less undeveloped. The Colorado landscape is laced with miles and miles of irrelevant barbed wire fencing on public lands. This fencing is no longer necessary, but it continues to have detrimental and deadly impacts on big game populations as well as birds of prey, grouse, and bats through entanglement, collisions, and separation of calves and fawns from their mothers.
Removing derelict fencing in the backcountry benefits ag and wildlife. | COURTESY PHOTO
With the help of volunteers and the local Colorado Parks and Wildlife office, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers will remove miles of this derelict fencing over the next year to improve habitat permeability in Rio Blanco County. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a non-profit organization whose mission is to ensure North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing through education and work on behalf of wild public lands, waters and wildlife.
“Meeker and Rio Blanco County have a hunting heritage that runs deep, and we hope to help preserve and ensure its future through our habitat stewardship work with your help,” said habitat stewardship coordinator Brittany Parker.
Sign up for the BHA newsletter to get updates on any upcoming fence removal volunteer opportunities and register for our upcoming Public Lands Day event in Meeker, Colorado, on Sept. 24-25 at www.backcountryhunters.org/meeker_fence_removal
Special to the Herald Times
