Wyoming Trims Pronghorn Corridor, Stirring Pushback from Biologists

Wyoming’s long-awaited effort to officially protect a pronghorn migration route is hitting a political snag — and it could leave more than 270,000 acres of habitat on the cutting-room floor.

This week, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department revealed its latest plan for the Sublette Pronghorn Migration Corridor. The agency now wants to drop two big chunks — the “Red Desert” and “East of Farson” segments — from the designation. Officials say those areas don’t show enough “high-use” activity, lack bottlenecks, and face limited threats.

The change just happens to align with what Wyoming Stock Growers Association vice president Jim Magagna has been pushing for. Magagna, whose ranch sits along the corridor’s west slope, has argued the two segments don’t warrant protection and should be handled separately, if at all.

But the move isn’t sitting well with conservationists or retired Game and Fish biologists.

“My recommendation to the commission is that they go with the biology,” said Rich Guenzel, a former agency scientist and member of the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame. “We shouldn’t water it down on our own. If it’s going to be a political decision, let the politicians own it.”

Groups like the Greater Yellowstone Coalition agree, pointing to two decades of GPS collar data from more than 600 pronghorn. That research shows the Red Desert and Farson segments are vital for survival during harsh winters, they argue.

Even with the trims, the corridor would remain massive — more than 2 million acres, bigger than Yellowstone National Park. But only small “bottleneck” zones would see strict limits on development, and nearly half of those sit on private land, which isn’t covered by state rules.

After six years of wrangling, the Sublette pronghorn plan is the first real test of Wyoming’s migration policy. The Game and Fish Commission will vote Sept. 10 in Lander on whether to recommend the scaled-back corridor to Gov. Mark Gordon. If approved, it would mark the state’s first official designation — and set the tone for how much politics versus science shapes wildlife policy in Wyoming.

The original story by Mike Koshmrl for WyoFile.