Agencies create plan to improve Platte Valley habitat

Members of different wildlife organizations met to discuss present and future projects at the Platte Valley Habitat Partnership (PVHP) meeting Thursday.

The meeting, held at the Platte Valley Community Center, started off with brief introductions from Jim States, of Voices of the Valley, and Wyoming Game and Fish Department Wildlife Biologist (WGFD) Katie Cheesbrough, who served as the meeting's facilitator. Representatives from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District (SERCD) and Wyoming Game and Fish (WGFD) spoke about their projects.

BLM

Chris Otto, fuel specialist with the Rawlins BLM, mentioned fence conversion, springs development and prescribed burning as some of the BLM projects planned for the in the Platte Valley.

"As far as vegetation treatments we've just got one prescribed burn in the Prospect Mountain area, and about 21 miles of fence conversion," he said. "We're doing that cooperatively with the conservation district. There is also 10 spring water developments."

Otto said the fence work and the spring development are projected to be completed this summer, while the prescribed burn is set for next month.

"If we're able to get a good window on the prescribed burn on Prospect Mountain, I would anticipate somewhere in mid-to-late April for that," he said. "That's usually our window depending on snow pack. With the spike treatment, in the past we've tried to do that in October."

US Forest Service

Steve Loose, wildlife biologist with the USFS in Saratoga, talked about aspen treatments and travel management. He said he was happy to work with the PVHP in helping to benefit mule deer.

"We're working with the Platte Valley Habitat Partnership because one of the benefits here is going to be for mule deer," Loose said. "Each one of these projects is going to have a great benefit for mule deer. We're looking at treating aspen and those transition and partition areas, which are birthing areas for mule deer."

Loose said the USFS is also working to replace the forest boundary fence at French Creek.

"In places it's a real impediment to mule deer migrating up and down the French Creek area," he said. "We're working with the permitee and some funding we received from PVHP, to replace that fence with a fence we can lay down during the winter. We want to do that so that mule deer and also elk and bighorn sheep can cross that area without being impeded in any way."

Loose talked about the travel management plan that the USFS was working on at Snowy Range.

"We're looking at all kinds of things there, like providing some recreation opportunities for the public, both motorized and non-motorized, as well as trying to improve some of the travel management situation to benefit wildlife."

Loose said the projects will begin this summer, and that the aspen treatment project could last for more than three years.

"Those projects will start anywhere from early this summer in June, and continue for several years," he said. "With the fence replacement project, we're going to do that early this summer in June. We're looking for people to help us out with those fencing projects, and the aspen treatments are actually part of a larger project that I described that's on the east side of the Sierra Madres. It's going to involve about 1,700 acres of aspen and shrub treatments, and were going to be doing those in the spring and fall, from spring of 2014 through the fall of 2017."

Loose said that based on public and agency input received, a decision on what to do for travel management in the West Snowy Range will be made by late next spring. He said they would start implementing a management plan next summer after the decision has been reached.

"With the travel management right now, we're just trying to make the public aware that we're going to be looking at that whole north west part of the Snowy Range," Loose said. "Were going to be out there looking at that this summer, and we welcome the public to come out there and look at that as well. We want people to let us know about some of their favorite areas that they like to recreate in, and what ideas they might have. We'll do our analysis over this fall and through the winter."

Near the meeting's end, Cheesbrough gave an update on funding for the projects at ZN Ranch and Big Creek.

"We're still working with the Mule Deer Foundation, and they've recommitted to the money they originally committed to the ZN projects and the Big Creek projects," she said. "The local sage grouse working group is coming through with $10,000 to work on a seed mix for planting on the Big Creek project as well. We're just really excited about the upcoming field season, and kind of transitioning from the processing part of PVHP, to getting projects on the ground and getting involved with more people. We're really looking forward to getting to work with people and see what PVHP looks like after the field season."

SERCD

SERCD Conservation District Supervisory Resource Specialist Joe Parsons added that he would like volunteers to help work on this year's projects. He brought up the success of last year's summer service project, where volunteers helped remove approximately 2,000 feet of woven wire fence from a big-game transition area near the Pennock Mountain Habitat Area.

"We're looking at trying to create an annual event where volunteers can come to the Platte Valley and do some sort of project," Parsons said. "If we can get enough people, I'd like to send some people to the forest service projects and BLM projects, and just make a day of it. Last year for the fence project, we had people from Rawlins and Laramie coming over, and people from the Valley. There were agencies involved and it was really a unique event to bring a lot of people together."