Habitat improvement benefits livestock and wildlife

Currently, there are mule deer initiatives occurring across the state; however, the two mule deer initiatives that have taken place in recent years in Wyoming are in the Wyoming Mule Deer Initiative near Pinedale area and the other is the Platte Valley Mule Deer Initiative.

Katie Cheesbrough, with the Platte Valley Habitat Partnership (PVHP), said what makes them so interesting is that in Pinedale, it is mostly on public land, but in the Platte Valley it is on private land. Both of these mule deer initiatives have been successful in getting large-scale habitat projects going, according to Cheesbrough.

“We have the opportunity to work with ag producers to help benefit mule deer. Because of the ag industry in the Platte Valley, we tend to have these large scale landscapes set aside from development because being used for ag production. This can be really beneficial for mule deer habitat,” said Cheesbrough.

At the same time, improving mule deer habitat on public land help can draw the deer away from the private land and eating the landowners forage or hay crops.

At the moment, the deer populations are not the issue as much as the elk, Cheesbrough said. But, improving mule deer habitat can also help in drawing the elk away from the hay crops.

The desired conditions for the mule deer habitats include improved shrub nutritive quality, increased vegetative production, improved perennial species diversity and density, increased aspen community health and regeneration, healthy riparian habitats and decrease migration barriers and disturbance, Cheesbrough explained.

Because of the benefits to forage, many of the habitat projects done by PVHP can benefit both livestock and mule deer.

Potential shrub treatments can include mechanical treatments like aeration, mowing and Dixie harrow as well as chemical treatments and prescribed fire.

Mixed mountain shrubs and sagebrush are an important component of the mule deer diet especially in the fall and winter, Cheesbrough said. These shrubs can be important to livestock too.

Shrub treatments promote a diversity of shrubbage classes within a stand, increase understory grass and forb growth and promote nutritive leader growth on the nearby untreated shrubs.

Some of these treatmentscan be used to prepare an area for seeding/planting of desirable plants as well.

High densities of invasive weeds decrease native grass and forb diversity and density and can have negative impacts to forage values, Cheesbrough said. Because of the potential to outcompete native plants and promote catastrophic wildfires, invasive weed treatments are used to reduce the threat to wildlife and livestock habitat.

Also beneficial to agriculture, the PVHP plants shrubs, native forbs and grasses as well as legumes to improve the habitat for both wildlife and livestock.

Fence management involves modifications or conversions to wild-life friendly designs which can help decrease wildlife entanglements, improve migration corridor connectivity and reduce energy that wildlife expends trying to cross the fences. Improved fences can also benefit livestock grazing management, Cheesbrough said.

The large expanses of land associated with ranches in the West provide important undeveloped habitat for many species of wildlife, Cheesbrough said. Often wildlife and livestock use many of the same forage species and livestock grazing can be done in a manner compatible with wildlife.

Proper grazing management can be a useful tool to enhance wildlife habitat through site-specific grazing management plans which provide for proper livestock distribution, timing, frequency and intensity.

Water is a key habitat requirement for wildlife and is often a limiting factor in how and where livestock can use the landscape, Cheesbrough explained. Water development is an important tool in improving rangeland conditions and often allows wildlife and livestock to utilize suitable habitats that could not have otherwise been used in the past.

Some of the most productive habitats in the western forests are aspen communities. They provide high quality forage and cover for mule deer and livestock, Cheesbrough said.

Seral aspen communities are being encroached upon at large scales by conifers because of the suppression of wildfire and little disturbance. PVHP is developing projects to mechanically harvest conifers encroaching the aspen stands which opens the canopy and allows favorable growing conditions for aspen regeneration. This also benefits quality forage species in the understory, Cheesbrough said.

According to Cheesbrough, prescribed burns or wildfire could enhance the aspen communities.

The PVHP is comprised of private landowners, concerned citizens, hunters, outfitters, members of the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD), staffs of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and many non-governmental agencies.

These partners have worked together to develop the PVHP and provide information need to better understand mule deer habitat requirements and improve and maintain healthy habitats in the Platte Valley, according to Cheesbrough.

Cheesbrough said the SERCD has been very instrumental in connecting the PVHP with landowners and ag operators.

To learn more about the PVHP or to participate in the program, contact Cheesbrough at (307) 760-0489 or [email protected].