Protecting Pronghorn Migration Corridors: Finding Ways to Work Together
David Cherney
(Note: David is now pursuing a Ph.D. in policy sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is also a research associate with NRCC. David spent the summer of 2004 as an intern with NRCC.)
Every
spring and fall, a few hundred pronghorn antelope make a 200-mile journey from their summer
range in Grand Teton National Park south to their winter range in
Sublette County, Wyoming. This remarkable phenomenon is the longest
migration of any land mammal in the lower 48 states, and in the Americas
it is second in length only to the caribou of Alaska and the Yukon.
In the past few years this migration has become a high profile international
conservation issue. It is widely expected that natural gas extraction
and urban sprawl will disrupt the migration, potentially truncating
it.
Sublette County, a largely rural area of cattle ranches bounded on the east by the Wind River Mountains, has seen exponential natural gas development in the past decade. Over 3,000 wells have already been drilled in the region, and 10,000 more may be drilled in the next few decades. There has also been a massive influx of people. Historic ranchlands are being subdivided, leading to more people, fences, roads, and general disturbance to wildlife.
It is easy to paint the story of this migration as a David and Goliath tale—the helpless pronghorn versus the forces of development—but, in fact, it’s a much richer and more promising story. In addition to individuals interested in development, there are over a dozen conservation organizations, three federal agencies, multiple local and state governments, private landowners, and other concerned citizens involved in efforts to protect the pronghorns and their migration corridor.
In the summer of 2004 as an intern with NRCC, while pursuing my master’s degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, I had the privilege to spend time on the ground with a number of people working for pronghorn conservation. It was inspiring to see the work they are carrying out. I talked to about eighty people during the summer, and I quickly realized that each individual had his or her own perception of what is occurring. For my summer project I chose to take a comprehensive look at this conservation effort to create a picture of what I see occurring on the ground, why it is unfolding the way it is, and recommend ways of improving the process.
One of the many themes my research identified is a fundamental lack of communication, coordination, and trust between individuals and organizations in the region. As stated by a member of a federal agency, “In general, we do not work well together…[many of the groups, agencies, and individuals] have a deep seated mistrust.” A Sublette County resident explained further, “People need to feel like they are being taken seriously.…This means they need to be listened to…and most feel like they are not.”
Of course, this problem is not unique to the issue of pronghorn migration in western Wyoming. Large-scale conservation efforts around the world are struggling to get people to work together toward common goals. What makes this situation unique is the recognition of the problem and the eagerness of many of the people involved to move past their differences. As one rancher confided, “I don’t know how we can do it, but we need to get past some of the issues that hold us back.” Similarly, a conservationist claimed that we all “need to be less polarizing in our approach and learn to work together.”
And, in fact, we don’t have to look beyond this case for a model on how to address the challenge of cooperation. A forum called the Trapper’s Point Working Group (see NRCC News, summer 2004) was convened by a local politician in the winter of 2004 to address one of the critical areas of concern along the pronghorn migration pathway, Trapper’s Point, a narrowing of the migration corridor due to topographical features and urban development. This group consisted of a wide range of individuals, representing many different constituencies. It was facilitated in a way that provided a respectful atmosphere for civil discourse, and, as one participant described it, it was “successful at building trust among groups that typically don’t get along.”
The real challenge will be for individual leaders to put aside their agendas and create forums that promote mutual respect and trust, facilitate communication, and eventually persuade people of different points of view to work together. This transformation is possible in the pronghorn migration case and looks as if it may be underway. It is important to remember that these forums do not produce results overnight. Often their successes may not be readily apparent, but in the long term they will help build a stronger community.