The National Parks Conservation Association has led a project near the North Entrance of Yellowstone National Park to remove old fencing and modify existing fences to allow pronghorn the ability to migrate from Yellowstone to the Paradise Valley and back. Yellowstone’s pronghorn population may be responding, as numbers are up. NPCA has worked with volunteers and other agencies to remove or modify about 18 miles of fence between Gardiner and Tom Miner Basin. The group hopes to continue the effort all the way to Emigrant. The pronghorn migrate from as far south as the Lamar Valley, trekking up behind Mount Everts in the park before dropping down to the Gardiner Basin. From there they have to negotiate the narrow Yankee Jim Canyon to reach Paradise Valley. Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Karen Loveless said she’s seeing pronghorn farther north in the valley as the population seems to be expanding. She’s not sure, however, if those northern pronghorns might be migrating from populations east of Livingston, which are also thriving. To read more about the story, log on to: bgz.tt/ztflk
(Written by Brett French – Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette)
