CHEYENNE, Wyo. — On March 13, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted to identify the Sublette antelope migration corridor, and to advance its designation process.
The identification of the corridor allows for funding opportunities to treat invasive annual grasses, improve range fences to wildlife-friendly standards and the implementation of other proactive management actions.
Game and Fish wildlife managers are to draft a biological risk assessment of the migration corridor, and 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.
“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,” Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik said in the announcement.
In January, 2023, public comments were gathered on the draft map and the threat evaluation report. Identifying the herd’s migration corridor and evaluating threats is the first step outlined in the Governor’s Executive Order.
According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), wildlife managers 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.
