JACKSON, Wyo. — Elk have been spotted walking across the newly constructed Snake River levee ramps, confirming that the ungulates show a preference for the crossing structures.
Kyle Kissock, Communications Manager for Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation (JHWF), has acquired new stealth camera footage of elk using the ramps south and east of the Wilson Bridge.
This past summer the JHWF collaborated with Teton Conservation District (TCD), Teton County, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Deidre Bainbridge Wildlife Fund, WWC Engineering and Feuz Excavation, LLC to install a series of “wildlife ramps” along the Snake River Levee.
“These ramps allow wildlife to make their way over the rip rap of the levee and access the riparian area along the river,” TCD said via press release.
According to TCD, 15 new ramps were built in 2023, bringing the total to 24 ramps located north and south of the Wilson Bridge over the Snake River. The levee crossings are approximately a quarter mile to a tenth of a mile apart, and strategically placed according to wildlife movement.
According to TCD GIS and Wildlife Specialist Morgan Graham, TCD used GPS collar data, habitat data and observations from the JHWF Nature Mapping Database to locate ramp sites.
Roby Hurley, JHWF volunteer and TCD Supervisor, was instrumental in marking ramp locations. He used GIS wildlife locations obtained by TCD, and biked up and down the levees marking the spots with stakes and flagging in order for the excavator to find the precise locations.
Kissock told Buckrail that obtained video footage of ramps SE5 and SE6 (south and east of Wilson Bridge) show that 90% of animals using these two ramps are elk, with occasional moose, mule deer and white tail deer taking advantage of the levee crossings.
“In the videos we’ve collected so far of ungulates crossing over the levee, they always choose to use the ramp rather than move through the rocks,” Kissock said. “Any time a moose or elk shows up, they make a beeline for the ramps.”
Additional ramps will soon be outfitted with stealth cameras in order to obtain a full assessment of the wildlife numbers utilizing the crossings. A long term goal is to collect more data from the constructed ramps.
