Jackson Hole conservation report shows some wildlife in danger

Bighorn sheep are just a small part of the large wildlife population in Jackson. And they’re one of the species whose habitat is in danger. They’ve become non-migratory due to development and settlement of humans. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance presented a report called, “The State of Wildlife in Jackson Hole.” It identified some of the threats toward wildlife.

“There’s the level at which our sage brush is being lost state wide and also in this valley,” Leah Zamesnik, a conservation policy manager for the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, said. “The decline in beavers in the park. The big threats to moose with development and just kind of encroachment within their habitat.”

One of the big issues is wildlife crossings. As more developments go up, there’s less land for animals to move around on.

“There’s a lot of wildlife hit in this valley and we cut off our migrations with our development through in town and ag land and all of these things,” said Zamesnik. “And so building these wildlife crossings, I think, is a really concrete step that we can take in addressing that threat.”

It wasn’t all bad news from the report. It pointed out some conservation opportunities.

“There’s things that we can control,” said Zamesnik. “We can update our natural resources, protections and kind of decide as a community where we think development is most appropriate. We can build wildlife crossings within our communities so that we’re not cutting off our ungulate migrations.”

Community is an important factor when it comes to protecting wildlife.

“Wildlife and our open spaces is such an important community value,” said Zamesnik. “And so I think, as our community changes, making sure that we’re still holding onto that value and we’re still protecting those things is gonna be really important in defining how we grow as a community and how we plan for the future as well.”

You can view the report here.