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Plan in place to save herd of pronghorns
4/4/03
Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Coyote hunts and seasonal grazing restrictions are included in a plan intended to save the remnants of what had been one of Arizona's largest pronghorn populations.
Longer term, the plan calls for controlled burns and pinyon-juniper removal over three years to improve the historic grassland habitat on which the antelope-like pronghorn depend.
State and federal land managers, prompted in part by the threat of a lawsuit, developed the plan after eight months of meetings. They hope to put it into effect sometime this year.
The aim is to preserve the pronghorn on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff. Once a robust population, the pronghorn in the narrowly defined Anderson Mesa are now so depleted that biologists fear they could disappear altogether.
The plan authorizes aerial hunts of coyotes as a short-term answer to try to boost fawn survival during the key fawning season, which runs from about May 20 through June 15.
It also directs ranchers to keep cattle out of 20,000 acres of key fawning areas for the five-week season, increasing the ground cover needed to hide the fawns from predators.
For the long haul, the plan lays out the burning plans and outlines studies of pronghorn biology, including disease trends and nutrition needs.
One problem on which all the planners agree is that three years won't be enough time to see what's working to save the pronghorn herd.
"I don't think we'll see a huge increase in the numbers in the next three years," said Arizona Game and Fish Regional Supervisor Ron Sieg.
4/4/03
Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Coyote hunts and seasonal grazing restrictions are included in a plan intended to save the remnants of what had been one of Arizona's largest pronghorn populations.
Longer term, the plan calls for controlled burns and pinyon-juniper removal over three years to improve the historic grassland habitat on which the antelope-like pronghorn depend.
State and federal land managers, prompted in part by the threat of a lawsuit, developed the plan after eight months of meetings. They hope to put it into effect sometime this year.
The aim is to preserve the pronghorn on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff. Once a robust population, the pronghorn in the narrowly defined Anderson Mesa are now so depleted that biologists fear they could disappear altogether.
The plan authorizes aerial hunts of coyotes as a short-term answer to try to boost fawn survival during the key fawning season, which runs from about May 20 through June 15.
It also directs ranchers to keep cattle out of 20,000 acres of key fawning areas for the five-week season, increasing the ground cover needed to hide the fawns from predators.
For the long haul, the plan lays out the burning plans and outlines studies of pronghorn biology, including disease trends and nutrition needs.
One problem on which all the planners agree is that three years won't be enough time to see what's working to save the pronghorn herd.
"I don't think we'll see a huge increase in the numbers in the next three years," said Arizona Game and Fish Regional Supervisor Ron Sieg.
