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In de-fence of wildlife
Volunteers spool barbed wire damaged by Blacktail Fire, clear migration corridor.

By Rebecca Huntington

It's not often that destruction is as rewarding as it was for volunteers who spent the weekend ripping down a fence.

"It's great, I love tearing stuff down," said Drew Overholser, a Journeys School social studies teacher. "It's kind of 'destruction to create,'" said Overholser, who was covered in soot and prying rusty staples out of charred fence posts.

What Overholser and 50-some other volunteers were creating Saturday and Sunday was a hazard-free migration corridor for elk and other critters.

Volunteers tore down 4.5 miles of fence, stretching along the Kelly Road, from the cattleguard at Gros Ventre Junction to the Gros Ventre Campground in Grand Teton National Park. Earlier this summer, the Blacktail Fire swept across the sagebrush, completely consuming some fence posts and damaging others. After the fire, charred posts stood or dangled precariously and miles of barbed wire sagged or lay on the ground.

The damaged fence posed a greater hazard to wildlife than a typical barbed wire fence because the wire was less visible and spread out, lying in heaps across the ground, said Steve Cain, acting chief of science and resource management for the park. Wildlife can become entangled in the wire and injure themselves or even die.

"With the [elk] migration to begin later this month," Cain said Thursday, "it's really imperative that that fence be removed before it starts."

Likewise, Steve Kilpatrick, a Wyoming Game and Fish habitat biologist, said thousands of elk moving through the area would scatter the barbed wire far and wide. Then the wire would be hard to find and remain a long-term hazard to lots of animals, he said.

"It's just an impediment, it's nice to get it out of the way," said Kilpatrick, who was working as a volunteer Saturday. He gleefully plowed over burnt fence posts with a tractor, which helped speed up removal. Often volunteers have to take out fence posts by hand.

Kilpatrick got the tractor gig because he was one of the few volunteers that knew how to drive one, he said. This was the first time he'd been behind the wheel of a tractor in 18 years, he said. "It reminds me of when I was a farm kid back in Nebraska."

A handful of students from the community also chipped in. Melissa Thomasma, 17, chose the project as a way to work toward 100 hours of community service ­ part of her required schoolwork as a senior at the Journeys School.

"It's cool to get outside, and actually watch your progress and see results," Thomasma said. Thomasma was taking a break to find duct tape for a blister heating up on her thumb after wielding pliers much of the morning. Volunteers pulled staples out of the fence posts to separate the barbed wire which they later rolled up. The wire is then recycled.

Thomasma took particular pleasure in removing this fence because she had often passed by it on her way to school at Kelly Elementary School.

"This fence has been here as long as I can remember," Thomasma said. "I've seen moose definitely have some problems getting over this in the winter."

Fellow Journeys School student Chalese Carlson, 15, said she also picked the project because "it's a good cause," and a good workout.

Retiree Betty Down has been helping to remove barbed wire fences all summer. Down said she took particular satisfaction in clearing barbed wire out of a creek north of Triangle X Ranch earlier.

The creek "is beautiful now," she said. "It just feels good to do this. We ride horseback, so we see miles of old fence that's not being used."

Down is a friend of Chuck and Carol Schneebeck, who have been organizing the fence removals this summer on behalf of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation. Fellow organizer Gail Fustos said Saturday that volunteers had removed 14 miles of fence this summer.

The fence along the Kelly Road has been used by ranchers who run cattle in Grand Teton. It may need to be replaced, depending on range conditions and the future of cattle grazing in the park.

The elk, meanwhile, should benefit not only from the fence removal but also from the burn, as nutritious new growth sprouts from the charred remains.

"I think that they'll use it, especially in the spring as they're migrating north out of the [National Elk Refuge]," Cain said. But, he added, "The one thing that will contribute to lower use by elk is that there just isn't much cover around." Similarly, hunters who hide in the sagebrush to shoot an elk might have a tougher time with no cover to camouflage them, Cain said. Bison also are likely to benefit from the burn. After the 1994 Row Fire on Antelope Flats, bison liked the burn so much that they moved their fall rutting grounds from the Potholes and Snake River bottom to the burn site.

"There should be a very vibrant flush of new vegetation there," Cain said of the Blacktail Fire area, "and it should be very nutritious right now."

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