Wyoming deer challenged by energy development
Hall Sawyer
How mule deer in Wyoming are coping with a rapidly expanding oil and gas industry in the area.
The largest herd of mule deer in the U.S. is at the Green River Valley in Wyoming. There are some 30,000 deer there, co–existing for the moment with over a thousand wells for oil and natural gas. And many more wells are being planned.
Using GPS collars, biologist Hall Sawyer has tracked the movements of the deer herd. He’s examined how the population has performed for the past five years. His research showed that much of the herd migrates more than 50 miles between winter and summer ranges, and that drought and severe winters have claimed an estimated 20 percent of the herd. But where gas development is occuring, it’s a different story.
Hall Sawyer: Where gas development is occurring, we’ve actually seen a 45 percent reduction in deer numbers in that same five–year period. So, this suggests that deer within this herd that winter in areas where there’s oil and gas development may not be performing as well as deer that winter in undisturbed areas.
Preserving migratory bottlenecks, minimizing habitat loss, and building wildlife–friendly fences are some ways that Sawyer said might help conserve Wyoming mule deer.
Our thanks today to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation .
Our thanks to:
Hall Sawyer
Research Biologist
Western Ecosytems Technology
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Look, folks, we have deer and occasionally moose, lots of raccoons, intermittent bears, and even mountain lions and bighorn sheep moving amongst the houses and apartments here near the center of a sprawling county/city with a half million population…We have deer literally bedding down their spotted fawns (twins) on the front porch of a townhome at the corner of a busy five lane intersection in a normal neighborhood with dogs and cats, where I also happen to live. I carry a gun when I take the trash out because of the possibility of meeting either a bear rummaging in the dumpster or a big cat that’s come down to look for juicy deer…there’s been abundant water and food this year and the deer population has blossomed…they will not be significantly harmed by oil and gas development in a less populated area. Deer are not endangered…they don’t need pristine silent wilderness. We need energy, and we get it without significantly impacting anything.
Give me a break.
Don’t worry about the deer! They will be fine!
Doug and Anonymous. I live in southeast Denver, with coyotes, raccoons, foxes, muskrat, redtail hawks, northern harrier hawks, great blue (white) herons, great horned owls and such — and about 10 years ago a couger was treed and killed about two miles from my house — all well within city limits. I know two photographers who won an international nature photography contest with a photo of a fox from an Aurora backyard.
But because we have fashioned a city that is inviting to animals, does not mean that invading their wilderness territories and defiling them will not be harmful to the animals. Yes, we need energy, but we also need to learn to stop squandering our resources and then destroying pristine areas in search for more.
If you think energy companies will go into an area and leave it without significantly impacted anything, maybe you need to open your eyes a bit wider.
We need to learn to do more with less, use less, and be better stewards of what we already have. Yes, we need a break — a break from our rapacious human appetite and arrogance.