Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Ryan Zinke, then secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, traveled to Salt Lake City in 2018, where he signed a secretarial order aimed at improving the conservation and coordination of big game migration and winter range corridors in Utah and 11 other states in the West.
Secretarial Order 3362 ultimately sparked about $20 million in habitat conservation and management funds, according to Casey Stemler, a senior advisor for Western states for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the main architect behind the order. It also led to nearly $6.5 million in research funding, which helped launch dozens of new research projects on the subject over the past five years, and another $2.5 million in mapping support.
Those funds are helping state and federal wildlife biologists and managers gain a better understanding of wildlife migration patterns for mule deer, elk and other big game wildlife, fueling new projects and land policies along the way.
So as the fifth anniversary of the order nears, the Mule Deer Foundation gathered state and federal experts back to the same building where Zinke signed the document to review what's happened since it was enacted. It was the primary topic of the foundation's summit at the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City Friday afternoon.
"Sometimes we look at these executive orders and other policy statements, and we really don't know what the effect is. Here, we've got (multiple) examples of direct benefits from an order that was, at some point in time, an idea that grew legs and made it through," said Steve Belinda, the foundation's chief conservation officer, during a panel discussion with various state experts at the summit.
Putting an order to use
It's easy to understand why Zinke issued the order five years ago, says Tony Wasley, who retired as the director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife last month. At the time, big game migration patterns were even more fragmented across the region than they are now — and connectivity matters.
Big game animal body conditions and survival rates have been impacted by drought and population growth in the region. In addition, an order to study these things can protect hunting opportunities, the recreation economy and even food security.
However, Wasley explains that coming up with ways to actually handle all those things isn't as easy. Yet the right timing, technology and partnerships helped piece together projects that conservation experts believe can make a difference.
Matthew Kauffman, a wildlife researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey, pointed to a recent example in Wyoming that shows how the research and data can be turned into policy. The agency tracked deer migration patterns and found a wildlife corridor near Pinedale on the state's western side; more specifically, they found that thousands of deer had to either struggle to cross Fremont Lake or find a way past a fence to access their normal path.
"Once the migration was mapped and that map was shared with partners, we discovered that all of this was complicated by a 360-acre parcel of land right in the middle, which was up for sale and slated to be turned into lakeside cottages," Kauffman said.
With the data in hand, a conservation fund swooped in and raised $2.1 million to purchase the land so it could be turned into a wildlife management area instead, thus saving the corridor and helping the deer population.
Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Idaho wildlife experts all said their individual states have also been able to craft new policies and projects by using research generated over the past five years. It hasn't only set aside new conservation areas, but even new wildlife crossings so that wildlife are able to safely cross.
"It's conservation successes like these that, I think, are facilitated by migration mapping," Kauffman said.
Local governments are also starting to turn new mapping into policy.
Todd Black, who serves as a wildlife biologist and environmental planner for Eagle Mountain City, explained that the city used the new information to include a mapped-out wildlife corridor in the city's code. As the city grows, they are looking for ways to address all the new developments and roads that may get in the way of the path wildlife takes through the city.
The largest challenge for the city is to find ways to afford projects that balance the area's growth while keeping the corridor intact, which is more difficult for a city than it is for a state or federal agency.
"Don't forget about (us) when we apply for these grants," he said.
Why collaboration matters
While Secretarial Order 3362 served as Friday's primary topic, collaboration across governments, agencies and other groups was a reoccurring theme. Even before the summit began, the Mule Deer Foundation announced a new "major" partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
Under the 20-year agreement with the Forest Service, $60 million will be allocated over the first five years for forest health projects that improve wildlife conditions and reduce wildfire risks across the West. The bureau will allocate another $5 million for additional habitat restoration projects, which will focus more on the region's sagebrush biome and conserving mule deer corridors and habitats.
The organization's 333 habitat projects over the last few years have already aided 392,000 acres of habitat treatments, including 171 miles of fence removal or modification, according to Mule Deer Foundation president and CEO Joel Pedersen. The new funding will help increase those figures.
Collaboration can be difficult in the West, especially when it comes to wildlife. Kauffman said the data shows migration patterns move through a mixture of private and public lands, with the latter that might be managed by federal, tribal, state or local governments. These patterns can even cut through multiple states or even countries. So various governments, agencies, groups and land owners often have to come together on a solution that works for everyone.
While that can be difficult to do, U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, who also attended Friday's summit, said it has to be done. He called collaboration a key element not just in solving land issues in the West, but also in water issues, including how states use the Colorado River.
Beaudreau said it's because he believes anything to try and solve these issues far outweighs ignoring a problem.
"In the environments we're talking about and the conditions that we're talking about, the largest impacts can come from inaction — by the federal government failing to implement some treatment program or failing to stay on top of invasives or implement some conservation partnership," he said. "As we think through hydrology, as we think all the challenges in front of us, I'm finding over and over that the no-action alternative is the most intolerable alternative."
