JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE

P.O. Box 2728

Jackson, WY 83001

(307) 733-9417

www.jhalliance.org

5/11/07

The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance Hosts
2nd Annual Party for the Pronghorn

JACKSON- Residents will have a rare opportunity to celebrate the annual return of the pronghorn to Jackson Hole and learn from a host of speakers about steps that are being taken to ensure the persistence of pronghorn in Grand Teton National Park.  The party, sponsored by the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, will feature local wildlife biologists Kim Murray Berger, Joel Berger, Bernie Holz and Sarah Dewey.  Festivities begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at Snow King Resort’s Grand Room with live entertainment by Ben Winship, Phil Round and Mike Rossi.

Fleet of foot and sharp of eye, pronghorn antelope are an icon of the West. Whereas most other hoofed mammals that live in North America migrated here from Asia across the Bering land bridge, pronghorn originated on this continent and are found nowhere else in the world. Uniquely adapted to prairies, deserts and sagebrush steppes, 10 to 50 million pronghorn once roamed the plains along with the American bison. But unlike bison, who rely on their massive heads to expose snow-buried grasses and heavy coats to protect them from winter’s bitter cold, pronghorn depend on their ability to move long distances to find food and escape harsh winter conditions. 

Since the last ice age, Grand Teton National Park's antelope herd has used an invariant and narrow corridor through the Upper Green and Gros Ventre River drainages, traversing three major bottlenecks. Spring migrations to Jackson Hole average 30 days with a mean roundtrip distance of about 300 km for one individual. This migration is the second longest mammal migration remaining in the Western Hemisphere, surpassed only by that of Arctic caribou. Seventy-five percent of such migrations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been lost due to development and habitat fragmentation.

As Wyoming is home to our nation’s first national park (Yellowstone), first national forest (Shoshone), and first national monument (Devil’s Tower), designation of the corridor would continue our state’s heritage as a leader in wildlife conservation. In addition to restricting development of fences, gas wells and other infrastructure that could block pronghorn movements in a 1-mile by 90-mile swath of land, it is envisioned that formal designation would result in federal funding to support the purchase of conservation easements, reward landowners for managing their property in ways that facilitate wildlife movement, and subsidize the replacement of existing fences with wildlife-friendly fencing. 

Other ongoing efforts to preserve the corridor include an initiative headed by the Wyoming Game & Fish Department to develop a series of exhibits highlighting important points along the migration route, and a proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to recognize the migration corridor in the Forest Plan revision.  Further information on these initiatives will be available at our event.

Sarah Dewey is currently a wildlife biologist at Grand Teton National Park, where her primary responsibility is management and monitoring of ungulate populations.  Her research interests include understanding the dynamics of ungulate populations, carnivore-ungulate relationships, and ecology of northern goshawks.  She has worked as a wildlife biologist for over 15 years for the US Forest Service and National Park Service throughout the west on endangered species conservation, sensitive species monitoring, and environmental impacts analyses.  Before coming to Grand Teton National Park in 2003, Sarah worked for the US Forest Service as a district biologist on the Nez Perce and Bridger-Teton National Forests and as a Wildlife Technician on the Ashley National Forest in Utah.  She received a bachelors degree in geology and environmental studies from Colby College in Maine and a master's degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. She will speak briefly at the event about her research on pronghorn populations in Jackson Hole.

Joel Berger has a master’s degree in biology from California State University, a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Colorado, is a Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and has earned fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution. He has worked as a professor in wildlife ecology for 16 years and currently is the senior scientist for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He has written four books, published more than 100 scientific papers, and has studied species as diverse as black rhinos, wild horses, and porcupines. During the last ten years he has focused on comparative effects of predation on moose in Alaska and Wyoming, as well as on bison and caribou. His current scientific focus is on long distance migration dynamics, particularly the maintenance of connectivity in and beyond Greater Yellowstone. Joel will speak about the fascinating prehistoric history of the pronghorn.

Bernie Holz grew up in Paxton, Nebraska from which he moved to Laramie, Wyoming where he received his Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Management and Conservation from the University of Wyoming. Starting out as Game Warden in Glenrock and Torrington, Bernie is now the Jackson-Pinedale Regional Wildlife Supervisor. Bernie in 1995 served as Big Piney’s mayor and is a member of the Sublette County Historical Society. He is currently on the board of the Green River Valley Land Trust. Bernie will discuss his work placing interpretive signs along the path.

Kim Murray Berger is a research ecologist who specializes in population modeling and assessment, predator-prey dynamics, and livestock-carnivore conflicts.  She received her B.S. in Natural Resource Economics and her M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy.  She has done field-work in Alaska, Norway, Argentina, and Wyoming, and has studied species ranging from caribou and pronghorn, to coyotes and wolves.  Kim recently completed her Ph.D. at Utah State University where her research focused on the effects of recolonizing wolves on coyote-pronghorn interactions and pronghorn persistence in Jackson Hole. She will discuss this fascinating research.

Please join us to celebrate the pronghorn’s return on Thursday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in Snow King Resort's Grand Room. There will be a suggested donation of $5 at the door. There will be excellent raffles and silent auctions including gift certificates to local sporting good stores and restaurants, fine artwork, river trips, night stays at local lodges, and lots of great gear. Local bluegrass legends Ben Winship, Phil Round and Mike Rossi will provide the night’s entertainment until 11 p.m.

“There is always reason to celebrate and be thankful for Jackson’s incredible wildlife,” said Beverly Lane, Outreach Associate at the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.  “This year’s event is about more than just celebrating the pronghorn’s return, we want to celebrate the people that are taking the steps to ensure that these animals will continue to return each spring.”

For more information on this event, call Beverly Lane, Outreach Associate, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, and (307) 733-9417.

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The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to responsible land stewardship to ensure that human activities are in harmony with the area’s irreplaceable wildlife, scenic and other natural resources. The organization has 2,000 members from Jackson Hole and across the nation.