Fremont Lake - The Conservation Fund

Now, imagine that at one point along this journey these mule deer are funneled into a 400 meter wide passage. This happens twice every year at the Fremont Lake Bottleneck in Sublette County, Wyoming. To make matters worse, a key 364-acre parcel in this bottleneck went on the open real estate market in 2004, with the expectation that it would be subdivided into residential housing lots, which would cut off this crucial migration pathway.

OUR ROLE

The Conservation Fund acquired the property on April 17, 2015, which takes it off the open market and helps secure a conservation future for the lands. Without this protection, a private buyer could have subdivided this key wildlife haven for adverse residential development. In addition to the acquisition, the Fund has raised funds for fence modification, habitat enhancement and long-term management of the property. In 2016, The Conservation Fund donated the 364-acre Fremont Lake Bottleneck property to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The new Luke Lynch Wildlife Habitat Management Area (WHMA), located along the western front of the Wind River Range north of Pinedale was named in honor of Luke Lynch, who was the Fund’s Wyoming state director and had helped conserve this portion of the migration corridor, as well as many other critical properties in the State, before his untimely death in 2015.

WHY THIS PROJECT MATTERS

Researchers at the University of Wyoming have identified the Fremont Lake Bottleneck as the most threatened lynch pin in this internationally significant wildlife phenomena. The property we aim to protect is wedged between Fremont Lake to the north and the growing town of Pinedale, Wyoming, to the south, forcing the entire migratory population (4,000 – 5,000 mule deer) to negotiate a narrow 400 meter wide corridor. Residential development of this critical area would severely diminish, if not entirely eliminate, this essential pathway.

“Every effort must be made to ensure that these migratory bottlenecks are maintained, while using a voluntary approach that reflects property rights of landowners. Your [TCF] effort to acquire the property off the open market from a willing seller fits the voluntary approach that we support.”

—Sublette County, Wyoming Board of Commissioners

Carney Ranch Photo by Mark Gocke Carney Ranch forms the most important piece of what is known as the Funnel Bottleneck in the "Path of the Pronghorn" for pronghorn antelope migrating from as far north as Grand Teton National Park. The property features the only—and the most vulnerable—bottleneck on private lands. In February of 2010, the Fund announced the completion of a conservation easement that protects the northernmost 2,400 acres of Carney Ranch, located at the head of the Upper Green River Valley. The easement prevents future development of the land and ensures its sound management.

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Sage Grouse Photo Bryant Olsen/Flickr Found across the western United States, the sage grouse population has declined by 90 percent over the past century and 70 percent in Wyoming. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledges it needs protection; but this bird is no small matter: Listing the sage grouse as a threatened species has big implications, especially in Wyoming where energy development—from gas to wind—is big business. So what can be done? The Fund has worked on several projects, including the protection of Cottonwood Ranches in Wyoming, that ensure the protection of sage grouse habitat. In 2012, we launched the Wyoming Sage Grouse Conservation Campaign to conserve key sage grouse habitat on working ranches statewide.

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Small Properties, Big Impact: Bridger-Teton National Forest Photo by Luke Lynch/The Conservation Fund. In 2013, the Fund helped the USDA add a 37-acre property in central Teton County, known as the Poison Creek property, to the Bridger-Teton National Forest. These acres may not seem like much, but they provide not only critical wildlife habitat, but also a popular trailhead and trail used by hikers and hunters to access the Gros Ventre Wilderness. This image shows the Hoback River on the right and Beaver Mountain in the background.

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Saving Working Lands Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game and Fish Department / www.markgocke.com Protecting private ranchland is the best hope for conserving the region’s rich wildlife resources. For generations, traditional, large-scale family ranches have occupied most of the Green River Valley’s private lands, sharing the natural wealth with the species that migrate across the landscape’s ancient pathways. In an exciting new effort, ranchers are collaborating with the Fund, public and private partners and community leaders to protect and enhance more than 100,000 acres and preserve Wyoming’s unique wildlife habitat and traditional ranching economy. These ranches have been selected for their top wildlife habitat and include some of the most important bottlenecks on the “Path of the Pronghorn.”

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Cottonwood Ranches Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game & Fish Department Cottonwood Ranches controls a contiguous block of 90,000 acres from the Wyoming Range in the west to the Green River along Cottonwood Creek. We worked with the owners, the Botur family, to place three conservation easements on their property, thereby preserving a family legacy of cattle ranching.

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Mitigation Strategy Photo by Emilene Ostlind. The Green River Valley sits atop two of the nation’s highest producing natural gas fields and is threatened with resource development—roads, well pads, power lines and residential subdivisions. In 2008, we brokered the first Wyoming conservation real estate deals using dedicated mitigation funds from the Jonah Interagency Office that help offset impacts to wildlife habitat caused by resource development. With the Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust and other partners, we've protected more than 7,450 acres and our work in the area continues.

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MJ Ranch Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game and Fish Department / www.markgocke.com The Jonah Interagency Mitigation and Reclamation Office and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department identified the family-owned, working ranch known as MJ Ranch, as a top conservation priority. The Fund led the effort to complete the largest purchased conservation easement in the Green River Valley: The easement protects more than 2,000 acres of MJ Ranch, which has sagebrush grassland habitat ideal for a variety of wildlife, including sage grouse, pronghorn antelope, burrowing owl, mountain plover, pygmy rabbit, sage sparrow and white-tailed prairie dog. The ranch also borders critical moose winter habitat along the East Fork River.

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Upper Green River Valley Initiative Photo by Arby Reed/Flickr With our partners, in 2008 we launched the Upper Green River Valley Initiative to conserve and enhance key wildlife habitat and agricultural lands in this special valley of western Wyoming. Already, this initiative has permanently protected 5,000 acres of private land, including eight miles of Green River tributary frontage, and enhanced more than 85,000 acres of public land.

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Saving Public Lands Photo by gmiphone/Flickr We are dedicated to conserving the public lands of Wyoming so that wildlife can thrive and people can enjoy the outdoors. To ensure continued public access to the Wind River Mountain Range, shown above at sunset, the Fund and the U.S. Forest Service, with key support from the Wyoming congressional delegation, protected an important 40-acre inholding within the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The property gives the public access to a network of trails leading to the Bridger Wilderness in the foothills of the Wind River Range and is vital to the continuation of hiking, hunting, camping and other outdoor recreational activities in the area.

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Cottonwood Ranches Photo by Mark Gocke, Wyoming Game & Fish Department Cottonwood Ranches controls a contiguous block of 90,000 acres from the Wyoming Range in the west to the Green River along Cottonwood Creek. We worked with the owners, the Botur family, to place three conservation easements on their property, thereby preserving a family legacy of cattle ranching.

sand creek massacre national historic site

LEARN MORE

University of Oregon video: 3D Migration visualization showing the challenges of one deer’s journey
National Geographic video: “A Deer Migration You Have to See to Believe“
Blog post: “Saving the Red Desert to Hoback Mule Deer Migration“
In The News: “Mule deer unbottled by Lynch habitat gift“
In The News: “UW Science Inspires Mule Deer Conservation at Fremont Lake“

Photo by David Parsons

PROJECT EXPERTS

Dan Schlager
State Director, Wyoming, Conservation Acquisition
Mark Elsbree
Senior Vice President and Western Regional Director, Conservation Acquisition

PROJECT PROGRAMS

Conservation Acquisition