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Wyoming takes a small step forward in protecting critical migration route

Formal designation process could take years

June 20, 2024BY: Kristen A. Schmitt

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Last March, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted unanimously to protect the critical Sublette antelope herd migration route. However, now, the state must work through the formal designation process, which could take years since it was only created in 2019, and this is the first time it will be used, according to Wyoming Public Radio.

The next step would be to create a state stakeholder group.

Rep. Scott Heiner (R-Green River) wants to include someone from the federal government – a suggestion that’s not completely agreed upon.

However, adding a federal designee to the stakeholder group could act as an “olive branch” of sorts as the state awaits other open issues, particularly the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan. Earlier this year, a task force was formed, and a proposal was agreed upon on how BLM would manage millions of acres in southwest Wyoming; however, a final decision is still pending.

Yet, those opposed to Heiner’s suggestion, like Randall Luthi, policy director to Gov. Mark Gordon, believe that “wildlife management belongs to the state,” noting that “federal law might actually not allow participation in a state stakeholder group.”

As GOHUNT previously reported, biologists used data collected over the past 20 years on 415 GPS-collared animals to inform the agency’s recommendation to protect the Sublette antelope herd migration route. The Sublette herd travels along Interstate 80 to Jackson Hole in a migration “web” that was discovered more than 25 years ago. The 2023 winter and disease devastated the herd, dropping the overall population from 40,000 to 20,000, according to Wyoming Public Radio. Dubbed the “Path of the Pronghorn,” this particular migration route stretches as far as the Grand Tetons to the Red Desert, with some of the route cutting through portions of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

The state does currently offer protections for a mule deer migration route that runs from the Hoback River Basin to the Red Desert, but also allows for “more development than what BLM is proposing,” according to Wyoming Public Radio.

An updated BLM plan is expected later this summer. Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.