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The Trappers’ Point Antelope Trail – A Precarious Wildlife Corridor

May 10, 2010 by Emilene Ostlind 15 Comments

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By Emilene Ostlind

Click for larger view.

Pinedale— Trappers’ Point lies on an unassuming knoll along Highway 191, about six miles west of Pinedale proper.  According to a large wooden sign at the top of the hill, “Trappers, traders and Indians from throughout the west here met the trade wagons from the east to barter, trade for furs, gamble, drink, frolic, pray, and scheme.”  Between 1833 and 1840 this was the site of a half-dozen rendezvous.

Even before the trappers arrived, earlier people gathered here.  An archaeological site at Trappers’ Point revealed remains of 8000-year-old fire pits.  More recent layers in the site held 6000-year-old bones of pronghorn antelope that had been killed with stone-tipped tools. Today, cloaked in windblown shrubs and dusty rocks, necklaced by barbed wire fences and power lines, this knoll hardly seems a prime destination.  But people were not drawn here by the view of the gravelly hilltop.

In contrast to the surrounding high-elevation sagebrush desert and rocky alpine peaks of the Wind River Mountains, this is a place rich in water, forage, and wildlife.  The bottomland of the New Fork River sweeps within a half-mile of Trappers’ Point to the northeast, and that of the Green River within a half-mile to the west. The arcs of the two rivers form a natural geographic bottleneck here.  Viewed from above, Trappers’ Point is the middle of a narrow bridge of land linking the entire Green River Basin to the south with the Upper Green River Valley and surrounding mountains to the north.

Click for larger view.

Trappers’ Point has attracted human visitors for thousands of years because it is the center of one of the world’s largest intact long-distance animal migrations.

Tucked between high rugged mountains on its north end and sprawling southward toward Utah and Colorado, the Green River Basin stretches across more than 4000 square miles of southwestern Wyoming.  The basin is a desert where, for most of the winter, grass and shrubs poke through the thin, windblown snow.  The abundance of hardy forage and the sparse snowpack make this an important winter range for as many as 100,000 ungulates, including about 59,000 antelope, the largest gathering of pronghorn on Earth.

Through April and May, although some antelope remain in the basin year round, tens of thousands disperse from the Green River Basin to summer ranges across western Wyoming, moving into the foothills of the Wyoming, Gros Ventre, and Wind River Mountain Ranges. At least 3500 of these antelope pass through Trappers’ Point each spring to reach their summer ranges around Hoback Canyon and along the Upper Green River.

One group of about 400 antelope migrates all the way to the grassy benchlands of Grand Teton National Park.  At 170 miles one way, the journey of the Teton pronghorn antelope is the second longest recorded land animal migration in the Western Hemisphere, after caribou in the Arctic.  The members of the Teton antelope herd cross a 9000-foot pass in the Gros Ventre Mountains and swim through four major rivers– the New Fork, the Green, the Gros Ventre, and the Snake–to reach their summer range in the Park.

Photo: Joe Riis

Around the world, long-distance animal migrations are disappearing due to loss of habitat, development blocking off corridors, or people killing the animals.  In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (which is connected to Trappers’ Point through the movement of the pronghorn), six of eight historic big-game migration corridors have been blocked and are no longer available to the animals that once relied on them.  When that happens, the deer, elk, bison, and antelope are restricted to isolated ranges where they are susceptible to harsh weather, inbreeding, or disease.

In the case of the Teton herd, obstruction of the corridor would mean that antelope could no longer reach Teton Park, where every summer millions of visitors from around the world see them as they raise their fawns.  Every adult antelope in Teton Park has crossed the Trappers’ Point bottleneck to get there.

For a patient visitor, a good springtime perch from which to watch Trappers’ Point is on the north side of Highway 191, where dirt two-track roads lead onto the federal Bureau of Land Management land on Cora Butte.  Bring a spotting scope, a chair or mat to sit on, and a warm coat, and be prepared to wait for several hours– or even days.

If your timing is right, you may see a cluster of migrating antelope appear over the rim of the Mesa and make their way with determination into the bottleneck.  The group approaches the highway where the taut strands of a barbed-wire fence stop them.  Ears tilted forward, the leaders watch semis, cars, and pickups zip back and forth along the highway.  They follow the fence downhill toward the opening of an underpass in a sort of gully.

Photo: Joe Riis

The antelope peer into the dark tunnel under the highway.  In a 2008 pilot project in Nugget Canyon west of Kemmerer, the Wyoming Department of Transportation installed six wildlife underpasses.  The tunnels were equipped with motion-sensor cameras, which have documented thousands of mule deer, as well as a handful of moose and even a few antelope, trotting through.  Highway collisions between vehicles and wildlife have declined significantly since the installation of those passages.

However, of all of the many times I’ve watched antelope approach the underpass at Trappers’ Point, I’ve never seen one enter it.  Antelope rely on their keen eyesight and their ability to escape danger by sprinting away at up to 60 miles per hour.  Venturing into a narrow underground passageway is simply too risky for them.

Instead, the antelope follow the fence line away from the underpass, up to the level of the highway.  They may run back and forth along the fence for 45 minutes or longer, watching traffic and searching for a way through.  Finally, one of the antelope selects a space between fence posts, where the bottom wire is very slightly higher above the ground than anywhere else.  She drops to her knees (actually, her wrists), ducks her head, and shimmies through.  The others watch her and then follow, one at a time, scooting under the fence.

The agitated animals gather in a knot on the asphalt.  Drivers speeding up from Pinedale or Daniel usually see the animals in time to stop, but sometimes bodies of dead antelope lie on the shoulder of the highway.

Managers have long known that Trappers’ Point is a critical wildlife crossing.  An elaborate system of motion sensors and signs borders the highway.  When the motion sensors detect an animal passing between them, they trigger flashing lights on the signs, which read “deer on roadway.”  However, the motion sensors don’t always detect animals, or they misfire and the signs flash when no animals are present.  Drivers may become habituated to the false signal and ignore it altogether.

Photo: Photo: Joe Riis

Once all the antelope are through the fence and across the highway, they encounter a second fence.  Again, the lead antelope searches the barrier until she finds a space to slip under the bottom wire.  Antelope have thin, stilt-like legs built for running rather than leaping.  I’ve only rarely seen a buck antelope jump a low fence, and I’ve never seen a doe or fawn do it.  Sometimes when an antelope attempts to jump a fence its rear foot may be caught between the wires in a twist and it can die hanging in this wrenched position.  If antelope reach an impenetrable fence during migration, especially a woven-wire sheep fence, they can be trapped and starve or freeze to death in deep snow.

Luckily, the thousands of antelope that cross Trappers’ Point are still able to navigate this important section of their migration corridor.  Thanks to a special designation in 2008 by the federal Bureau of Land Management, about 9500 acres were set aside as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern.  This designation protects the bottleneck from natural gas mining and off-highway vehicle use.

Furthermore, the Green River Valley Land Trust, a local conservation group, has worked to retrofit many miles of fence so that antelope are able to crawl underneath.  A wildlife-friendly fence has a barbless bottom wire that is at least 16 inches above the ground.

Trappers’ Point presents another opportunity for protecting this wildlife migration.  Wildlife overpasses have seen great success in Banff National Park in Alberta, and are being built in other areas as well.  These structures span the highway like giant bridges and are surfaced with grasses and native vegetation.  To antelope and other wild animals, the overpass looks like a hill.  Traffic on the roadway drives underneath through a tunnel.

Photo: Joe Riis

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation estimates the cost of building a Trappers’ Point overpass would be about $5 million.  The Wyoming Department of Transportation applied for $100 million in federal economic recovery money to build many wildlife overpasses and underpasses on Wyoming highways, where an average of about 1,800 collisions between vehicles and wildlife are reported annually.  That application for funding was denied in early 2010.

However, momentum is building for wildlife corridor protection across the nation.  In 2008 the Western Governors’ Association created a Wildlife Council charged with creating a database of information the states can reference to prioritize corridor protection areas.

On Earth Day in 2010, U.S. Representative Rush Holt from New Jersey introduced the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act which, if passed, will gather information about wildlife corridors and create a Wildlife Corridors Stewardship and Protection Fund.  Furthermore, the Wyoming Department of Transportation will apply later this summer for a second round of economic recovery funding, which is prioritized for rural highway projects.

Pat Collins, the State Engineer for Engineering and Planning at the Wyoming Department of Transportation is optimistic that this second application will bring in the necessary funds.

“We should find out, I’m not sure, but I think in mid September,” he says.  “If the money comes through we expect to begin construction on the overpass next spring.”


Emilene Ostlind is a graduate student at the University of Wyoming, finishing her degree in creative nonfiction writing and environment and natural resources.  Her thesis project is a book documenting the migration of pronghorn antelope from Grand Teton National Park to their winter range in the Green River Basin.  Emilene grew up in Big Horn.

Joe Riis is a wildlife photojournalist focusing on conservation and wildlife corridors. Joe is 25, a National Geographic Young Explorer, and the Freedom To Roam staff photographer. Joe grew up on the Great Plains in South Dakota and graduated from the University of Wyoming in Wildlife Biology.


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Filed Under: Featured, Places

Emilene Ostlind

About Emilene Ostlind

Emilene Ostlind is communications coordinator for the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, and edits Western Confluence magazine, a publication of the UW Ruckelshaus Institute.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Edith says

    June 2, 2010 at 8:14 am

    Great article; thanks Emilene, Joe and WyoFile.

      Reply
    • todd wilkinson says

      June 1, 2010 at 9:06 pm

      Congratulations on a story well told, Emilene. Good luck with your book. And greetings to that artist father of yours.

      PS: Enjoyed your photographs, too, Joe.

        Reply
      • Emily says

        May 31, 2010 at 10:24 pm

        I was very impressed with Emilene’s article on the antelope crossing at Trapper’s Point. I lived up on the hill there as I worked for BLM as a Petroleum Engineer Tech. I was amazed at all of the antelope that crossed there and deer. Once I came home and an antelope had been killed within 50 feet of the stop sign coming from Cora. Much of the time I would go 50 mph out of Pinedale going west…just 5 miles to the Cora turnoff. I cannot tell you how many times I was flipped off, honked at, almost runoff the road, tail-gaited… plus a guy in a big diesel truck with vertical stacks, while in passing, made sure he “smoked” me out to where I could barely see the road, (the smoke from his stacks was so dense,) and then he took off at about 100 mph. I think that was the most blatant rudest act I had ever experienced. But when people come from other states, they do not know about our Code of the West, ( more of a sense of place rather than what the legislators passes)nor do they care. Nor do they have eyes to know what to look for but only concerned to get where they think they need to be.

        I handed out petitions all over asking people to sign it that the Airport Automotive (South of Pinedale) was initiating to get the speed limit lowered to 55 in about a 15 mile stretch. People would just laugh at me, women and men, and say, “Well that will never happen!” They had several moose crossing just south of them, and down at the bridge and babies that were killed by not only increase in traffic, but also an attitude of inconsideration of the migration patterns. People love to drive fast and in their big trucks, and big guards, can just mow ’em down…no problem. I helped to untangle an antelope in a fence there just like the photo you have in your article. The deer really liked being at my house as I had a good wind break, a quiet dog, and a big pine tree. Also the guy who sold feed in town said people along 191 fed the deer with the rabbit feed I used for my pet rabbit, so many times I would go there and he would be out of it! So that is another reason for why all the mortality…unreal.

        Anyway, thank you for being here.
        May God continue to bless you with good writers!
        Victoria Goodin

          Reply
        • monty says

          May 31, 2010 at 12:11 pm

          Great article & thanks to Victoria for her comments about the sadistic selfish fools that I hope are in the minority!

            Reply
          • Sally Watt says

            May 13, 2010 at 11:11 pm

            Thanks for adding the info about the photographer!

              Reply
            • liz says

              May 13, 2010 at 8:46 am

              Great article! Hope this is another step in building positive solutions for migrations and human interactions.

                Reply
              • victoria says

                May 12, 2010 at 7:18 pm

                I was very impressed with Emilene’s article on the antelope crossing at Trapper’s Point. I lived up on the hill there as I worked for BLM as a Petroleum Engineer Tech. I was amazed at all of the antelope that crossed there and deer. Once I came home and an antelope had been killed within 50 feet of the stop sign coming from Cora. Much of the time I would go 50 mph out of Pinedale going west…just 5 miles to the Cora turnoff. I cannot tell you how many times I was flipped off, honked at, almost runoff the road, tail-gaited… plus a guy in a big diesel truck with vertical stacks, while in passing, made sure he “smoked” me out to where I could barely see the road, (the smoke from his stacks was so dense,) and then he took off at about 100 mph. I think that was the most blatant rudest act I had ever experienced. But when people come from other states, they do not know about our Code of the West, ( more of a sense of place rather than what the legislators passes)nor do they care. Nor do they have eyes to know what to look for but only concerned to get where they think they need to be.

                I handed out petitions all over asking people to sign it that the Airport Automotive (South of Pinedale) was initiating to get the speed limit lowered to 55 in about a 15 mile stretch. People would just laugh at me, women and men, and say, “Well that will never happen!” They had several moose crossing just south of them, and down at the bridge and babies that were killed by not only increase in traffic, but also an attitude of inconsideration of the migration patterns. People love to drive fast and in their big trucks, and big guards, can just mow ’em down…no problem. I helped to untangle an antelope in a fence there just like the photo you have in your article. The deer really liked being at my house as I had a good wind break, a quiet dog, and a big pine tree. Also the guy who sold feed in town said people along 191 fed the deer with the rabbit feed I used for my pet rabbit, so many times I would go there and he would be out of it! So that is another reason for why all the mortality…unreal.

                Anyway, thank you for being here.
                May God continue to bless you with good writers!
                Victoria Goodin

                  Reply
                • Tom Rea says

                  May 12, 2010 at 12:53 pm

                  Nice work, Emilene–and the pictures, too, are packed with storytelling

                    Reply
                  • Sally Watt says

                    May 11, 2010 at 5:56 pm

                    Great story! I look forward to the presentation in Lander by Ostland and Riis next week!

                    A blurb on the photographer would be nice and appropriate.

                      Reply
                    • Bart Rea says

                      May 11, 2010 at 4:37 pm

                      I hope this good article willhelp build momentum for a solution to the highway crossing and fence barriers. Well done, Emilene!

                        Reply
                      • Patricia Cramer says

                        May 11, 2010 at 3:31 pm

                        Emilene, you did a great job of writing a story, not just reporting. I have brought these pieces of information together in talks and papers, but never with near the beautiful way you write, great job. Check out our website on wildlife and roads from Utah State university: http://www.wildlifeandroads.org

                          Reply
                        • Rick Moore says

                          May 11, 2010 at 1:37 pm

                          Great article. It would be great if WyDOT would build the wildlife overpass over the highway. More attention also needs to be paid to land use issues in general in the area.

                            Reply
                          • L.G Richardson says

                            May 11, 2010 at 1:18 pm

                            This is a lovely piece of reporting and writing.

                              Reply
                            • Wyowild says

                              May 11, 2010 at 12:52 pm

                              Well written article about the area I call, “Slaughter Alley”. I travel this road several times a week and have seen innumerable numbers of mule deer, moose and antelope carcasses. I wish WY DOT would install a cross/marker for dead ungulates – this section of Hwy 191 would bristle like a porcupine if all the deaths were monumented. It’s shameful how little attention has been given by state agencies to the ongoing tragedy of Trappers Point.

                                Reply
                              • leslie petersen says

                                May 11, 2010 at 9:24 am

                                thanks for a terrific article

                                  Reply

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