Recent Colorado National Forest Plan the New Standard for Conserving Big Game Habitat

August 29, 2024

USFS management in the revised Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests Plan limits disturbance within the most sensitive big game habitats and migratory routes, other forest plan revisions should do the same.

In July, the U.S. Forest Service finalized a revised Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests Plan after nearly a decade of analysis and public engagement. Management direction in the plan establishes guidelines that Forest Service staff must follow when authorizing uses in the forests for the next several decades, which is why we applauded the forests’ inclusion of the most up to date science for how agency decisions will affect wildlife populations.

The Forest Service was able to use modern data to limit direct and indirect disturbances to big game caused by habitat fragmentation in sensitive habitats such as summer range and migration corridors. The most influential inclusion in the plan was the establishment of 823,000 acres of Wildlife Management Areas, within which total route density limits have been set to prevent road and trail construction through the most sensitive areas, ensuring that habitat connectivity and function remains at the forefront of management considerations.

The TRCP worked closely with agency staff and our partners during the planning process to ensure these management actions were included, and we encourage other forests to model their future revisions on the GMUG’s efforts to value wildlife needs along with other uses, including increased recreation.

Our contemporary understanding of wildlife movement across the landscape and between seasonal habitats has developed quickly and relatively recently in the last two decades. The advancement of technology from radio collars and radio telemetry to GPS has resulted in efficient and effective means to map animal movement. Modern GPS technology delivers a dozen data points a day, allowing wildlife and land managers to determine precisely where big game herds summer and winter, how they move from one place to another, and where they stop to rest and feed along the way. The TRCP released a report in 2021 highlighting the opportunity to apply cutting-edge science and research concerning wildlife movement to influence public land management across the West.

As new information becomes available, the USFS should include this invaluable data in biennial monitoring reports to inform adaptive management within existing forest plans. And when initiating new forest plans, the agency should design migration-related plan components that are demonstrated to reduce wildlife disturbance. This will allow managers to adapt to new information as it becomes available. Thankfully, tools exist in the forest planning process to utilize this vital wildlife data.

The 2012 National Forest Planning Rule directs the Forest Service to look at the entire ecological and social sustainability of the forest. Intact, healthy wildlife corridors and connectivity are critical to long-term ecological sustainability, and robust big game populations support social values of hunting and wildlife watching that drive many rural Western economies.

More recent investments from the Department of the Interior have supported continued science and learning, which means each year more corridors are identified. Many Western states and tribes are developing this work with the support of the U.S. Geological Survey, who has provided technical assistance to state and Tribal agencies since 2018. This information demonstrates specifically where special management on National Forests, and other lands, is needed.

In the GMUG, the USFS utilized the best available science and modern tools for land use management that resulted in a positive outcome for the future of big game in the forests. A primary challenge to big game conservation in the GMUG is the extensive network of recreational trails in the planning area. The need for public land managers to navigate increased recreational trail opportunities with wildlife, as well as other uses of the forest, is not limited to the GMUG. Between 2014 and 2019, recreational trail use in Colorado grew by 44%, while the number of days spent viewing wildlife increased by 105%ⁱ. Increasing recreation opportunity was a desire for the GMUG, yet that opportunity needed to be pared with actions to avoid, minimize, and mitigate for the unintended consequences of trail-based recreation directly and indirectly impacting big game populations.

Elk can survive in some of the harshest environments, but research shows that additional disturbance from humans during their toughest times of the year can prove fatal. In a study of the elk herd in Vail, Colorado, researchers found that if cow elk had to move in response to hikers an average of seven times during calving, about 30 percent of calves died. Resulting data models suggest that if cow elk were disturbed 10 times during calving, all calves would die. When researchers stopped sending hikers through calving areas, the calf survival rate recovered. This suggests that limiting disturbance in production areas and summer concentration areas during calving season could dramatically increase elk calf survival rates.

An analysis and story map developed by the TRCP shows that around 40 percent of the most important elk habitat in Colorado is already impacted by non-motorized and motorized trail users. In this analysis we looked at the overlap between existing recreational trails and high-priority elk habitat, and our results highlight how important management strategies, like development density limits established in the GMUG, are to provide long term benefits for wildlife and recreationists.

The GMUG’s final plan, and the WMAs specifically, set a valuable precedent for other relevant forests within Colorado and the West on how to plan responsible, multiple-use management that conserves the most sensitive big game habitats. Other forests grappling with similar challenges such as increased recreation are the Lolo National Forest (Montana), the Bridger-Teton National Forest (Wyoming) and the White River National Forest (Colorado), which is scheduled to begin a revision in 2025. The GMUG’s model will be extremely relevant in setting future management for these forests, and others, with significant recreation and wildlife values.

The TRCP is your resource for all things conservation. In our weekly Roosevelt Report, you’ll receive the latest news on emerging habitat threats, legislation and proposals on the move, public land access solutions we’re spearheading, and opportunities for hunters and anglers to take action. Sign up now.

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by: Noah Davis

posted in: Highlights

In The Arena: DeAnna Bublitz

TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation

DeAnna Bublitz

Hometown: Apple Valley, MN
Occupation: Microbiologist
Conservation credentials: DeAnna Bublitz is the founder of DEER Camp, a gear library for hunters based in Missoula, Montana.

DeAnna Bublitz grew up in Minnesota enjoying the many state parks and open farmland the North Star state has to offer. When she moved to Montana in 2012, Bublitz wanted to become more intentional and involved with her meat consumption. She asked a friend if they would loan her gear and show her the ropes of hunting. The rest is history. Since that influential first season, Bublitz has founded DEER Camp, an organization that aims to reduce some of the financial hurdles by providing a gear library for hunters.

Here is her story.

My parents introduced me to the outdoors. They weren’t backpackers or anything, but we’d go car camping at various Minnesota state parks and on my grandparent’s farmland in Wisconsin. I grew up with a big backyard near a pond that let me perfect my frog-catching abilities. My parents also sent me to summer camps which were a major player in getting me into the outdoors. I learned to canoe and backpack at the Wolf Ridge Environmental Center in northern Minnesota, and this foundation led me to taking weeklong backpacking trips with friends along the Superior Hiking Trail in high school.

Hunting came later when I moved to Montana in 2012. After going trap shooting with my landlord (and realizing I wasn’t as terrible as I’d imagined I’d be) I wanted to see if I could be more intentional and involved with my meat consumption. So I reached out to my only friend here at the time, a friend I’d met ages ago at that same summer camp, to see if she and her husband would loan me gear and show me the ropes of hunting. And the rest is history.

I think one of my most memorable outdoor adventures was my first solo backpacking trip. I go hunting alone quite a bit, but those are always day trips or maybe to a Forest Service cabin. But just a few years ago I finally did a longer backpacking trip just myself and my dog and it was wonderful. We did a 20-mile loop over three nights in southern Montana where I didn’t pass anyone on the trail until the last three miles. My campsite for two nights was in an elk wintering ground, and they had clearly only vacated recently because their tracks and scent were all over. It was beautiful and empowering to be in that vast of a landscape with no one but my dog.

A Canadian or Alaskan moose hunt would be a dream. The landscape is just incredible so even if I didn’t get anything, I’d come away happy. And pulling a moose tag in Montana is a test of your patience and longevity.

Bublitz works on a trail crew in Montana’s Scapegoat Wilderness.

Conservation enhances my outdoor life by making it possible. Generations of advocates came before me, and they are why the large tracts of land I recreate on are available to everyone. From Missoula-local trails like Mt. Sentinel and Mt. Jumbo, to the Scapegoat Wilderness, these spaces have been conserved for recreation and wildlife alike because of conservation-minded folks.

From an early age it was instilled in me that we are all stewards of our surroundings, so being engaged with conservation issues was a natural course.
DeAnna Bublitz

One of the biggest conservation challenges in my area is development, which is maybe not what a lot of folks think about when they imagine Montana. But we have been growing population-wise for some time and the boom that came in the last few years has really put a crunch on housing. People aren’t moving here so they can live in denser cities; they want their private 20-acre ranchette on prime valley land or high up in the mountains, both options necessitating new driveways, roads, power lines, and fences. All which disrupt wildlife corridors. Wrapped up in development is every other issue you might think of facing conservation: more driving miles because folks still need to get groceries, go to the doctor, get their kids to school, and all of these activities lead to habitat fragmentation, introduction of noxious weeds, wildlife conflict, and changing attitudes of about land use, management, and access.

Bublitz with her first deer, a mule deer buck.

From an early age it was instilled in me that we are all stewards of our surroundings, so being engaged with conservation issues was a natural course. The simplest reason I’m invested in conservation is that I use and love these outdoor spaces and by extension, I care for what lives there and want it to be healthy. But I also want these places to be available for other folks in the future to discover and fall in love with. And at least in Montana, it feels really easy to get involved and create community around conservation. In a very short time, I’ve made connections with so many regional and statewide nonprofits, I am on the Board of Directors for our local rod and gun club, and these connections and activities help me stay engaged and energized in a way that is long lasting and sustainable.

Most hunters and anglers I know aren’t just in it for the harvest, so while conservation should matter for simply ensuring healthy populations of these game animals, it’s about more than that. Hunting and fishing are ways to get into the outdoors and see new places, take photos of beautiful sunrises, and more often than not, see all manner of critters that aren’t the ones you’re actually looking for. Conservation work creates better habitat for the animals we hunt and fish and subsequently, healthier populations of those animals. The efforts put into conserving the habitats of game animals typically benefits all of the other organisms that exist in those same environments, but it also makes for healthy landscapes to soak in when you’re out there and untying your line from a tree or taking your rifle for walk.

Photos Courtesy of DeAnna Bublitz.

by: Marcel Gaztambide

posted in: Highlights

August 27, 2024

In New Mexico, and Across the Country, Migrating Big Game Herds Meet Roadblocks

The Land of Enchantment has a fresh opportunity in the upcoming 2025 legislative session to devote funds to keep drivers and wildlife safe

Driven by instinct and shaped by their environment, big game such as deer, elk, and pronghorn follow paths sometimes invisible to the human eye—passages deeply set in the landscape and etched in evolutionary memory—but often noticed by hunters. The need for animals to move is immutable, as species of every kind undertake journeys for habitat, food, and reproduction.

In New Mexico, as in other places across the West, migration corridors for big game and other animals alike are increasingly threatened. Poorly sited human infrastructure, like energy and housing development, can degrade habitat and disrupt wildlife movement in ways difficult to mitigate.

Roads are particularly troublesome. If you’ve ever driven the highways abutting forests and grasslands around New Mexico, you’ve likely seen evidence of this struggle in the remains of animals lying in broken piles beside the road.

A pair of New Mexico mule deer bucks rest on a hillside. (Photo credit: John Cornell)

Near where my wife and I live in northern New Mexico, motorists are likely to see a dead deer alongside Highway 550 on their way south to explore the San Pedro Parks Wilderness, and two more on their way home along the same road. Regular travelers along US-180 and NM-90 near Silver City, US-70 out of Ruidiso and the Sacramento Mountains, and I-25 over Glorieta Pass are likely to report similar sights: a regular occurrence of dead animals that attempted to cross a busy roadway.

On average, there are around 1,200 wildlife-vehicle collisions reported in New Mexico every year, costing about $20 million in vehicle damage, emergency response, and healthcare expenses. And that doesn’t include the incalculable damage to wildlife populations and hunter opportunity.

You Can’t Teach a Deer to Use a Crosswalk, But You Can Build a Bridge

Fortunately for wildlife, and the safety of New Mexico drivers, the collision hotspots mentioned above (and others like them) were identified in the state’s Wildlife Corridors Action Plan. Finalized in 2022, the plan provides comprehensive guidance to the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to conserve areas important for wildlife movement and to develop road-crossing structures designed to help animals safely cross heavily trafficked highways. In turn, crossing structures also protect the public from dangerous, sometimes deadly, collisions with wildlife.

We don’t need to look far to see how beneficial investments in wildlife-crossing structures can be. Nearby states like Colorado and Utah have seen success in similar solutions. In Utah, the construction of two underpasses beneath I-15 saw a 98.5 percent reduction in deer mortalities for that corridor, and in Colorado, wildlife crossings above and below State Highway 9 have reduced collisions by 90 percent over five years.

We also have evidence of crossing infrastructure working right here at home. Near where I live in Aztec, the state installed three wildlife crossing culverts in 2004, primarily to encourage mule deer to travel below US 550. Between 2017 and 2020, camera monitoring conducted by AZGFD and NMDOT documented more than 6,000 successful mule deer crossings. That’s 6,000 fewer opportunities for a problem on the roadway above.

Above is an example of single-span overpass structure intended to bridge the existing four travel lanes and shoulders of US 550 with a 17-foot-tall vertical clearance and 150-foot width. Overpasses and their approach areas would be planted with vegetation that matches the natural habitat adjacent to the highway. (Photo credit: NMDOT)

No Money, More Problems

Incredible improvements like those mentioned above are possible for New Mexico’s wildlife and drivers, but only if we’re willing to pay for them. For just one of the collision hotspots (US 550 north of Cuba), the cost to develop all the recommended infrastructure—multiple crossing structures, fencing, and additional signage for drivers—is estimated to be $45 million. Statewide, an estimated $388 million is needed to address the eleven priority areas identified by NMDOT.

While modest investments have been made in recent years to implement the state’s action plan ($5 million in 2024), New Mexico has a fresh opportunity in the upcoming 2025 legislative session to more adequately devote funds to these critical, life-saving solutions. With the allocation of additional funding, the state can also leverage federal dollars from grants such as the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program, which is designed to assist states in efforts to mitigate the more than 1 million wildlife-vehicle collisions that take place across the country every year. Leveraging federal money while the opportunity exists will be crucial if we’re to come close to meeting the large estimates in New Mexico’s state plan.

Absent robust funding, we’ll continue to see animals hitting these proverbial roadblocks around the state in alarming numbers, especially as new pressures on habitat limit the ability for wildlife to move freely. For hunters, investments in crossings infrastructure makes good sense, both in keeping us safer on the way to our hunt and in conserving the health of herds we’d like to enjoy well into the future.

As we’re in the middle of busy summer travel and approaching both hunting season and the next legislative session, sign up so you can stay tuned for ways to assist TRCP and our partners in securing substantive funding of the New Mexico Wildlife Corridors Action Plan.

by: Josh Metten

posted in: Highlights

August 23, 2024

TRCP Appreciates Compromise in Rock Springs Final Resource Management Plan

Group acknowledges BLM and State effort to balance development and conservation

Photo credit: Josh Metten

After nearly seven months of analyzing and addressing public comments, the Bureau of Land Management on Thursday published its Rock Springs proposed final Resource Management Plan.

The plan includes many of the conservation safeguards for the wildlife-rich Greater Little Mountain Area that were recommended by the Governor’s Task Force, as well as management direction for the Red Desert to Hoback mule deer migration that is consistent with the Governor’s Migration Corridor Executive Order.

“The BLM and Wyoming Game and Fish Department are crucial partners in managing the habitat and wildlife cherished by Wyomingites” said Josh Metten, Wyoming field manager for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Measures in the RMP to maintain migratory habitats and conserve the Greater Little Mountain Area are important for Wyoming sportspeople, and we appreciate changes made to address the feedback of local communities.”

At over 3.6 million acres, BLM lands in the Rock Springs Field Office support uses important to local communities, including wildlife and recreation, grazing, energy development, and mining. The revision, which has been underway since 2011, has been of high interest to conservation and development interests. Following the release of the draft RMP in 2023, the state formed a Task Force facilitated by the University of Wyoming’s Ruckelshaus Institute which developed a set of recommendations for the RMP. Changes to the final proposed RMP reflect the feedback provided to BLM through formal public comments and the Task Force recommendations.

“While sportspeople didn’t get everything we wanted, we’re happy to see conservation of some habitat and special places included in the proposed final plan,” said Metten. “TRCP looks forward to working with the BLM and local stakeholders to implement the plan once it is completed.”

The RMP revision process now enters a 60-day review period by the Governor’s office for consistency with state and local plans. Stakeholders who have previously participated in the process have 30 days to protest areas of the final plan. A record of decision is expected later this year.

by: Rob Thornberry

posted in: Highlights

August 8, 2024

Local Partnership Saves Drivers, Wildlife in Eastern Idaho

Raising bridges and adding fences allows big game to avoid busy blacktop

Like so much early, modern development across America, the railroads and highways through Idaho’s Lemhi Valley were not constructed with fish and wildlife in mind.

First, railroad tracks were laid between Salmon and Gilmore, straight lines of progress carting people to the center of the state to find and deliver a menagerie of precious metals to help build the growing nation. To accommodate the rigid tracks, the river was straightened; leaving the fish without suitable places to rest and spawn. The highway, now known as State Highway 28, followed, and no concessions were made for the area’s deer, elk, moose, pronghorn, and fish, which included ocean-going species such as salmon and steelhead.

For decades, these developments brought a litany of unexpected consequences. Many big game animals have been killed on the highway, and the precipitous decline in anadromous fish stocks can be traced, in part, to the loss of quality spawning and rearing habitat in the channelized Lemhi River attributing to, in part, a decrease of quality hunting and fishing opportunities.

The most unusual big game animal to use the underpass was this mountain goat, six miles as the crow flies from the nearest peak.

Fortunately, a plucky team of state officials, federal land-managers, private citizens, and nonprofit leaders, including the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, have banded together to improve the safety of wildlife and motorists on the altered landscape near Leadore, Idaho.

“It is the coolest project I have worked on in my career,” said Jessie Shallow, a Mule Deer Foundation – Idaho Department of Fish and Game partner biologist, who has worked on the wildlife crossing project for roughly four years.

The process began when the Idaho Department of Transportation decided to update several of the bridges that cross the Lemhi River to meet federal flood standards. Although not a specific goal of the bridge project, IDFG worked with ITD to incorporate design elements that would hopefully improve wildlife movement under the roadway. Resulting accommodations for wildlife were wider and taller bridges, making the tunnels large enough for wildlife such as deer, elk, and moose to cross under the highway.

When the bridge replacement project came in under budget, the excess funds were allocated to build wildlife fences that would funnel the wildlife to the new structures. In 2020, the IDT built three miles of funnel fence on each side of the highway, ushering animals to cross the highway under the bridges and not on the asphalt. The fences were a game changer. Fish and Game documented roughly 40 animal crossings in the underpasses before the fence was built, and over 400 through the underpasses per year once the wildlife funnel fence was in place.

“It is the coolest project I have worked on in my career.”
Jessie Shallow, Mule Deer Foundation – Idaho Department of Fish and Game partner biologist

Project partners are now using more grant funding to extend an existing funnel fence two more miles along both sides of the highway. The location of the extension was prioritized based on frequent road-kill counts, and sadly, a wildlife-vehicle collision which caused a human fatality in that section.

Shallow predicts that the extended fence will reduce wildlife vehicle collisions by more than 80 percent in that section.

Using game cameras, Fish and Game officials have captured dozens of animals traveling under the highway. Everything from deer, moose, and mountain lions and even a mountain goat, which was miles from the nearest mountain ranges.

“It has been a complete success,” said Shallow.

The only remaining issue on this stretch of Highway 28 was aiding the animals that became stuck inside the funnel fence and needed to exit the roadway. Traditionally, biologists designed steep jump-outs for animals, but in this instance, there was not sufficient space within the right-of-way for those to be constructed.

Shallow overcame this challenge by adapting a gate project designed in Utah that allowed elk to escape apple orchards. Instead of using traditional V-gates, which allow anglers to access the river, Fish and Game and the Mule Deer Foundation created one-way gates that wildlife could push through to escape the highway side to safety. Think of a beaded curtain in a palm-reader’s hazy shop, but instead of beads, the curtain is made of metal posts that swing only out. Placed on a fence corner, these new one-way gates are wide enough for whitetails and similar-sized animals to leave the road but narrow enough to keep cattle off the highway.

The one-way gates were immediately successful as Fish and Game tracked a substantial increase in the number of animals that were able to escape the roadway after gaining access at the fence end. Although not the perfect solution, the effectiveness of the one-way gates has been encouraging. The key to success for these one-way gates is that they must be placed where the funnel fence makes a corner – these are natural areas that wildlife will congregate and attempt to escape.

Mountain lions using the 1-way gate to successfully exit the roadway.

While there are many other places throughout Idaho that still need infrastructure to help animals cross roadways safety during their daily and seasonal movements, the bridge underpasses and miles of fencing on Highway 28 are tangible work that directly improve motorist safety and increase hunting opportunity.

“We are making a difference,” Shallow said. “It is very rewarding.”

Bryan Young, traffic/operations engineer for ITD agreed and looks forward to partnering with the agency and organizations in the future.

“It has been very exciting to be part of this project and to build a partnership with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game that will last for a lifetime,” said Young.

Learn more about wildlife crossing work in Idaho HERE.

Photo courtesy of IDFG